Byron Dorgan: “First of all, the chart the Senator uses about deficits and accumulated debt, he describes something that is very real…”

“First of all, the chart the Senator uses about deficits and accumulated debt, he describes something that is very real, that is a threat to this country's long-term economic future. There is no question about that. I have spoken about it with respect to both the fiscal policy of this country and our trade policy. Our trade policy has created the largest debt in the history of the country by far. I wanted to mention that the House of Representatives approved legislation for another $45 billion in an emergency supplemental. That comes on the heels of the $81 billion we approved. The Senate is going to approve the requested emergency supplemental because we are going to restore the funds that the Pentagon says they need to prosecute the war in Iraq. But it is interesting, for the $81 billion that we just passed, $45 billion which now comes on the heels of that, not a penny of it is paid for. The administration keeps saying--and these are big numbers--we have to pay for that which we are doing, and we need to restore these accounts to the U.S. Army. All of us say, yes, we not going to send soldiers to do a job and not provide the funds necessary. But I ask the Senator: Does he agree with me that it is bizarre, to say the least, to send the soldiers to Iraq and then say: By the way, when we pay for all this, let's not ask anybody to pay taxes to do it. Let's just have these soldiers pay the debt when they come back. It is unbelievable.…”