Byron Dorgan: “Without belaboring this at great length, the Senator from Mississippi said we will not go through ``you said, they said…”

“Without belaboring this at great length, the Senator from Mississippi said we will not go through ``you said, they said, we said,'' having already done that. The fact is I would not have objected, nor would other Members on this side of the aisle have objected to this resolution except this is not a resolution you bring to the floor and say, by the way, let us be bipartisan. Let me give you an example. This is a resolution that says page 1, sub 5, ``President proposed and Democratic-controlled Congress enacted a $241 billion tax increase on the American people in 1993, the largest in history,'' and on and on and on. It was not the largest in history. The largest in history came during the Reagan administration in 1982, the largest tax increase in history documented by the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Tax Committee, but that is beside the point. In 1993, a provision that I voted for was a deficit reduction provision, and guess what happened as a result of that? Yes, the deficit was reduced. Contest that? Well, even Alan Greenspan says it was reduced as a result of that action. The deficit was reduced because we had the courage to reduce spending and increase some revenue. The deficit has been reduced over 60 percent since 1993. We have had economic growth. We have had job creation. We have had lower interest rates. And the fact is this country was put back on track because the deficits were being reduced and we were moving in the right direction.”