Byron Dorgan: “I am pleased today to join him in introducing a piece of legislation dealing with a very important issue for this…”

“I am pleased today to join him in introducing a piece of legislation dealing with a very important issue for this country, the trade deficit. Most especially, the merchandise trade deficit. On behalf of myself, Senator Byrd, and Senator Sarbanes, we are introducing legislation today which will establish a commission that will meet and make recommendations on how to end the crippling and growing merchandise trade deficit in our country. We have had a great deal of discussion about the budget deficit in the U.S. Senate, and in Congress in recent months. In fact, it was not too long ago we had a stack of books, I venture to say 5-foot high, stacked on a desk that was, I think, to demonstrate deficits in various budgets for many years. That was one deficit. That deficit is a difficult and a serious issue and one we must address. The question was whether it should be addressed through an attempt to alter the Constitution of the United States. There was great controversy about that. Yet, there was no disagreement about whether we had a responsibility to address the fiscal policy deficits. We have addressed them. We need to do more. They are coming down. They have been decreased by over 60 percent. The budget deficit has been coming down substantially for 4 years in a row.”