Kent Conrad: “I think we have reached a critical moment. We have 250,000 troops poised on the border with Iraq. There are a number of…”

“I think we have reached a critical moment. We have 250,000 troops poised on the border with Iraq. There are a number of additional troops from the U.K. Other nations may be involved, as well. There is no provision for the cost of this conflict in the budget. It does strike me as the better part of wisdom to say we ought to limit any additional measures that add to the deficit by either spending or tax cuts, with the two exceptions I have noted before. On the spending side, certainly we would exempt national defense and homeland security. On the tax side, we would be wise to exempt the funds for a stimulus package in 2003 and 2004. Beyond that, we would require a supermajority vote that adds to deficits when we are on the brink of conflict, the cost of which has not been quantified. That is what my amendment is about.”