Pete Domenici: “I do not believe it is rational to say the Clinton tax increase of $290 billion is what caused this American economy to…”

“I do not believe it is rational to say the Clinton tax increase of $290 billion is what caused this American economy to go buoyant and produce strong growth rates for the last 7 years. Essentially, that is what happened in that first year. Some say it added some credibility. To the extent it added credibility, it probably should have been taken off after the next year we had credibility. In any event, I want to talk about what we are doing here. I do not know why it is, with the surpluses we have, that we cannot get to the point where those on the other side of the aisle--at least almost all of them. They really do not want to have very much tax relief, if any, for the American people. When we boil it right down, the difference is not paying off the debt --there is a slight difference there--but the difference is spending, and that is it. They want to spend more, and we say let's give back more to the American people in tax relief.”