Byron Dorgan: “last evening I watched the Presidential debate, as I am sure many other Americans did as well. I was thinking, after the…”

“last evening I watched the Presidential debate, as I am sure many other Americans did as well. I was thinking, after the debate, that those who claim there is not a difference between these candidates, and not a choice in this election, just have not been listening. There is clearly a choice and a difference between the two Presidential candidates. I happen to believe both are pretty good people. You don't get to the point where you achieve the nomination from your party for the Presidency of the United States without having some significant experience and talent. But there are vast differences in public policy. I want to talk just a little about this, and especially about one of the significant issues in this campaign: the proposals for tax cuts. Governor Bush has proposed tax cuts that are somewhere in the vicinity of $1.5 trillion over the coming 10 years. We have had a wonderful economy in recent years. This country has been blessed with economic opportunity and growth that is unprecedented. We have the strongest economy in the world. Virtually everything in our economy has been headed in the right direction. Unemployment has been down; inflation has been down; home ownership up. Virtually all of the indicators of economic health have been good. This economy has been heading in the right direction. One factor in that health is that Congress made some choices early on; difficult choices, to be sure, but ones that helped put this economy back on track.”