Kent Conrad: “the Senator from Alabama used some pretty strong language out here. Socialistic? Please. I do not know of a single…”

“the Senator from Alabama used some pretty strong language out here. Socialistic? Please. I do not know of a single socialist in the Senate or anybody that has any thought of proposing anything socialistic in this Chamber. That is talk that is a little beyond the pale. Let's review what has happened in fact--not the rhetoric, the fact. This chart I have here demonstrates what has happened to Federal spending as a share of national income since 1966. Ronald Reagan took over in 1980. I do not think he was a socialist. But look what happened to Federal spending as a share of national income under Ronald Reagan and, effectively, Republican control of both the House and the Senate. Federal spending as a share of gross domestic product shot up under President Reagan. Now look what happened when a Democrat took over in 1992. Federal spending as share of GDP plunged. We have gone from 22 percent of GDP going to the Federal Government when Bill Clinton came into office to last year going down to 18 percent--a dramatic reduction of money coming to Washington for the Federal Government as a share of national income. Those are facts. As President Reagan used to say, facts are stubborn things. The Senator from Alabama said the Democrats defeated the lockbox. You bet we defeated the lockbox they proposed because the lockbox they proposed would have prevented us from honoring our national debt.”