Pete Domenici: “The Senator mentioned that under the Simon-Craig amendment, this Brooklyn Bridge could be off budget, too. In 1982, when…”

“The Senator mentioned that under the Simon-Craig amendment, this Brooklyn Bridge could be off budget, too. In 1982, when this balanced budget was working its way through, it did not have the debt limit on it yet. We did that afterward. But a simple word was inserted by the then Senator Chiles from Florida and Senator Domenici from New Mexico, and I think it is in there, where you refer to outlays and receipts. It says ``total'' outlays and receipts. Heretofore, it just said ``receipts and outlays.'' The history of the word ``total'' is that you cannot exclude any outlays or receipts, as you have indicated. They are going to be counted anyway, and whether you include them or not, they end up adding to the deficit, which adds to the debt. So you cannot exclude anything. I wonder if the Senator was aware of the word ``total'' in there when he made his remarks?”