Kent Conrad: “I know the Senator insists on his point of view on this, but I have to say there is another point of view which I have…”

“I know the Senator insists on his point of view on this, but I have to say there is another point of view which I have articulated and have articulated repeatedly. There simply is not an assumption that there is a tax increase embedded in this budget. In fact, what is included, after the Baucus amendment is adopted, is significant additional tax reduction: tax reduction for middle-class families, tax reduction for estates, tax reduction for those who would otherwise be subjected to the alternative minimum tax--some 20 million families. So that is the fact. If you go to the record of what this Congress has done so far, after the Senator gave his same speech last year, almost verbatim, saying we are going to increase taxes by $1 trillion, which is his favorite number--I tell you, I do not think it would matter what document we brought to this floor, the Senator would say there is a trillion dollar tax increase because that is what he said last year. Let's go back and check the record. What happened? Since last year, this Congress, controlled by Democrats, has reduced taxes on a net basis by $186 billion. It is not a statement. It is not a speech. It is a fact. This Democratic Congress--after all the warnings last year: We are going to increase taxes $1 trillion--has reduced taxes, in 1 year, by $186 billion.”