Byron Dorgan: “With the alternative that is being proposed, the majority party's proposal, we will not achieve both a balanced budget…”

“With the alternative that is being proposed, the majority party's proposal, we will not achieve both a balanced budget and a freezing of the debt. What we will have is an increase in public debt, building up even as those in the Chamber claim they have balanced the budget. I come from a very small town, as I have said repeatedly: 300 people. On Main Street on Saturday night everybody would come to downtown. The barber would cut hair until midnight--a wonderful place. You could not take this proposition we are talking about here today to my hometown and take it to the barber shop or the bar and tell people about it and have them say, ``Yes, that sounds OK to me.'' There is not anybody who says this sounds OK. You cannot take money from people's paychecks and say to them this money we are taking is for Social Security and we promise to put it in a dedicated trust fund and we will save it for you, you cannot do that and say: By the way, we have changed our mind.”