Judd Gregg: “I have referred to this as the Wizard of Oz budget because there is someone behind the curtain somewhere on the other…”

“I have referred to this as the Wizard of Oz budget because there is someone behind the curtain somewhere on the other side of the aisle who is going to pay for all of those proposals they have put into the budget. No matter how you do the numbers, it works out that this budget has in it, as proposed by the Democratic Party, the largest tax increase in the history of the country. It is interesting that the Senator from North Dakota continues to bring forward the chart that says his tax revenues are about the same as the administration's, failing to mention--well, he did mention it, he just did not highlight it--that he is using one accounting scheme to get to one number, and another one to get to the other. But when you do compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges, you realize that under CBO scoring the difference is very significant between the two. Under OMB scoring the difference is significant between the two. The fact is, there is a dramatic increase in taxes in both packages. In the Democratic package, if you score it consistently the difference is about $300 billion if you do not take into effect the AMT. So you have got a $300 billion tax increase in this bill. Now, if it were not there, why would they have cut taxes to begin with as their first amendment? Their first amendment was a $180 billion revenue reduction. They were at the House number of $900 billion in new taxes.”