Melvin Watt: “I appreciate both of these fine gentlemen for setting the table for me because the comments I have to make play right…”

“I appreciate both of these fine gentlemen for setting the table for me because the comments I have to make play right into this. I did, during the debate, try to prepare my constituents for this possibility. The problem is that nobody believed what I was saying, and I guess I even had trouble believing it myself. How could over $5 trillion in surpluses, projected surpluses disappear within 1 year? I mean, it was impossible for anybody to comprehend that. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman from Iowa would allow me to control my time, that would be helpful to me. The problem is nobody would believe that this was even possible, but I want to just go through the facts. This administration has been in office just over 1 year. We had $3.12 trillion, not even including the Social Security surplus projected as a surplus for the next 10 years, and 1 year later it is gone. Despite the administration's claims that this is all about September 11 or some economic downturn, over 40 percent of that vanishing surplus is due to the tax cut, and the commitment to hold Social Security in a lockbox has vanished. There is no commitment anymore. A year and a half ago, we were out there worrying about whether or not we were going to pay the debt down too fast in this country and whether that would be detrimental. What are we doing now? We are talking about another trillion dollars or more in additional interest on debt over the next 10 years. This is all in 1 year.”