Byron Dorgan: “I wanted to make a comment about what I have been reading this afternoon and hearing most of today about a process by…”

“I wanted to make a comment about what I have been reading this afternoon and hearing most of today about a process by which the budget conference is going to cobble together a compromise and bring it to the House and the Senate, with the prospect of having the Senate have its arms tied behind its back procedurally in order to accomplish a very large tax cut. Now, what I do not understand is this: We have an economy that everyone understands is in some significant trouble. We have a fiscal policy that does not add up. About 2 years ago, the President said he wanted a fiscal policy with a very large tax cut, $1.7 trillion. Some of us said: Well, what we ought to do is be a little careful and be a little bit conservative because we don't know what is going to happen in the future. The President said: No. What we have are budget surpluses as far as the eye can see, and we ought to give that money back. I said: I believe we ought to provide some tax cuts, but maybe we ought to be a little bit conservative. Who knows what is going to happen in the future. Well, the President won the day on that, and we had the tax cuts. And then we ran into a couple of problems: One, a recession; two, the terrorist attack of 9/11, which was devastating both with respect to loss of life and also this country's economy. Then we had the largest corporate scandals in this country's history.…”