Byron Dorgan: “Will Rogers once said, ``It's not what he knows that bothers me; it's what he says he knows for sure that just ain't…”

“Will Rogers once said, ``It's not what he knows that bothers me; it's what he says he knows for sure that just ain't so.'' Two points: No. 1, the President's budget proposes more in discretionary spending than the Republican budget. There is no debate about that, and there is no amount of bluster on this floor that can change that. No. 2, this is not about tax increases. The fact is, if this is a song with unlimited verses--tax increases, I guess--we spend $2.2 billion to pay companies to shut their American plants and move them overseas. How about shutting that down and using the money in a constructive way? Two men from Florida did a study that says we lose $40 billion a year by foreign corporations doing business in America that do not pay taxes here, and 73 percent of the foreign corporations doing business in America pay zero taxes. To close tax loopholes is somehow increasing taxes? No. We are talking about big, fat, juicy tax breaks for some of the biggest enterprises in the world, and we are talking about closing them. Is there anything wrong with that? I do not think so.”