Ed Markey: “the President has proposed a Mother Hubbard economic plan, a plan that leaves the cupboard bare. Here is what I mean. We…”

“the President has proposed a Mother Hubbard economic plan, a plan that leaves the cupboard bare. Here is what I mean. We have an alleged surplus of $5.6 trillion. Today the House will vote to take $2.9 trillion off the table. So that leaves just $2.7 trillion for all the spending and tax relief for the next 10 years. The President has two priorities for that money: a tax cut that will consist of $2.6 trillion, skewed largely to the wealthy, by the way; and a missile defense system that will cost at least $100 billion. So that is it. It is all gone before we reach anything else. We have zero surplus for anything else; for prescription drugs, education, health insurance, zero. Mr. Speaker, it is a Mother Hubbard plan. The wealthy get to take a tax cut picnic while the rest of this country faces an empty cupboard.”