John Bel Edwards: “I have also learned, speaking of cake with a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old at home, that if we give them the ice cream…”

“I have also learned, speaking of cake with a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old at home, that if we give them the ice cream first, they are very unlikely to eat the vegetables and the meat. If we pass in effect a trillion dollar tax cut this year, we are not going to see the House having the courage to pass a trillion dollars in spending cuts to match that. So what we are going to do is we are going to decrease their ability to pay down the national debt. Let me point out when we do that, we are really increasing taxpayers interests on the national debt. So I guess in conclusion to our first question tonight, the Republican tax cut proposals that have passed the House so far this year, are they fiscally responsible? I think the answer is no. They are based on uncertain, perhaps terribly false assumptions about where the economy in the world will be over the next 10 years. They ignore the fact that we already have a $5.6 trillion national debt. Let me clarify. Nobody on this floor tonight is suggesting tax increases. We just want to make our top priority paying down the national debt, which is probably the best way to get a permanent tax cut to the gentlewoman who sits on the Ways and Means Committee. The best way to give a permanent tax cut to the American people is to pay off the national debt. That would free up $200 billion a year. Now, to put that in perspective, that $200 billion could be passed as a major tax cut, a permanent tax cut.”