Rich Neal: “We have got to pay for this war in Iraq. There ought to be some truth to what we do here. After this election…”

“We have got to pay for this war in Iraq. There ought to be some truth to what we do here. After this election, regardless of who is selected as the next President, it is going to cost another $100 billion at least. That will be pushed off until after the election. So last year it was $60 billion. Earlier this year it was $87 billion. Now as part of the rollout, it is $25 billion. We all know that number is too low. $1 billion a week for Iraq and now more than $1 billion a month for Afghanistan. 135,000 troops in Iraq. They need equipment. We are going to have to increase that base at some point. The answer here is this: we are going to fight two wars with three tax cuts, and the markets are reflecting it. The Republican Party in American history used to take fiscal prudence as the cornerstone of their existence. Today they take the position that we can cut taxes time and again because at some point we are not going to have to pay.”