Sam Gibbons: “Mr. Chairman, although both sides of the aisle strongly disagree on the merits of this bill, I think both parties will…”

“Mr. Chairman, although both sides of the aisle strongly disagree on the merits of this bill, I think both parties will agree that in the last few days we have seen a truckload of statistics, charts, graphs, and surveys arguing for or against this tax cut plan. However, there is one thing that both sides agree upon--that the Republican tax cut plan will increase the deficit by $189 billion. Worse still, the Republican majority is proposing that we pay for over half of this deficit increase with an I.O.U. for $100 billion. Not real money, but a promise to pay in the future. No one knows what will happen in the future when the appropriators actually identify where the cuts will come from to achieve the $100 billion in savings. We have before us a so-called illustrative list of proposed cuts by Budget Committee Chairman Kasich. I am sure that I am not the only Member of Congress who is dubious at best, about anyone's ability to mandate spending cuts. If the Republican majority so firmly believes in this tax cut plan, why have they not come up with the specific spending cuts which they promised to identify for the American people? When President Clinton lowered spending caps 2 years ago, he did it to cut spending, not to give the money to the wealthy.”