Byron Dorgan: “I have great respect for him. His call for bipartisanship is certainly welcome. I say to him and to others that those of…”

“I have great respect for him. His call for bipartisanship is certainly welcome. I say to him and to others that those of us who serve in the Senate come here wanting to do good things for our country. We have a passion for good public policy that will advance America's interests. But I must say, in the past year or so the evidence of bipartisanship is hard to find with respect to the way the White House and the majority in this Senate have dealt with the minority. We would welcome true bipartisanship. I must also point out, while I think there are areas where we have made progress in this country, there are some very significant issues with which we must deal. We have the largest budget deficit in history, and, no, it is not because of a war, it is not because of a recession. We had testimony at a hearing yesterday that said the largest part of this deficit is as a result of recurring tax cuts, very large tax cuts, the bulk of which went to the largest income earners in this country. If you earn $1 million a year, good for you; you are very fortunate. You, also, under this administration's tax plan, get nearly $100,000 in a tax cut each year as well. We have a very large and growing Federal budget deficit, the largest in history. The President proposes increased defense spending, increased homeland security spending, and then decreased revenue.”