Chuck Grassley: “as you can see, the proposed spending is popular and has a nice political edge. Democrats could record themselves as…”

“as you can see, the proposed spending is popular and has a nice political edge. Democrats could record themselves as voting for the amendment, and they could criticize Republicans for voting against those amendments. From a political calculation perspective, these were profitable efforts on the part of the Democratic leadership. The fiscal consequences, however, were another story. If Democrats had been in the majority, as they are now, the fiscal effect of these amendments would have been a very big problem, and here is why. One-time spending increases, even if for 1 year, are built into the CBO baseline, and they are built in forever. This is explicitly the case for increases in discretionary spending. It is also implicitly the case with entitlement spending. If anyone disputes that point, I would ask them to show me the last time we reversed new entitlement spending. It just never happens around here is the best thing to say. Let's take a look at the Kennedy amendment on vocational education and Pell grants to which I have referred. The amendment was purported to be $6.3 billion, but that was for 1 fiscal year. That $6.3 billion, if adopted, would probably be extended in later years. It is in the baseline. So Senator Kennedy found his offset by closing $6.3 billion in what he referred to as corporate tax loopholes. I am not going to find fault with closing those tax loopholes.…”