Kent Conrad: “Senator Sessions' amendment would allow all of the tax cuts to be extended without having to be paid for, without having…”

“Senator Sessions' amendment would allow all of the tax cuts to be extended without having to be paid for, without having to be offset. So it does directly contradict at least the spirit of the Bunning amendment. I must say, I am very much in sympathy with the spirit of the Bunning amendment because, after all, it was my amendment back in 2002 when it really would have done some good because that was before we went down this path of using Social Security funds to pay all kinds of other bills. I have said many times that what is being done here in Washington is a basic violation of any kind of the sense of the trust fund because trust fund moneys that are in temporary surplus before the baby boomers retire are being used to pay other bills. You could not do that in any other institution. You could not do that in any private business. You could not take the retirement funds of your employees and use them to pay your operating expenses. If you did that, you would be in violation of Federal law.”