David Price: “I awoke this beautiful Saturday full of hope. By noon today we will be 107 hours away from the finish line I have been…”

“I awoke this beautiful Saturday full of hope. By noon today we will be 107 hours away from the finish line I have been running toward, ever since I first came to the Congress. With the end of September, we will have achieved the first balanced budget since Lyndon Johnson was President. Our achievement is imperfect, however. The unified budget is balanced only because of the surplus in the Social Security trust fund. And as we finish the race to this balanced budget, we begin another race with two finishes to cross: providing for the long-term solvency of Social Security and balancing the budget without including the Social Security trust fund. The bill we are debating today, the 'Raid Social Security for an Election Eve Tax Cut Act,' threatens these goals. The problem is not with the specific tax cuts but with using the Social Security trust fund surplus to pay for them. These tax cuts are also contained in the Democratic substitute. I have cosponsored many of them. But they are paid for in that substitute, and they maintain the trust in the trust fund. The Republican bill effectively repeals the cornerstone of budget balancing, the pay-as-you-go rule. It does so without even a fig leaf of a budget resolution. It is irresponsible. The Democratic substitute gives us tax cuts, maintains budget accountability. Pass the Democratic substitute.”