Kent Conrad: “I think we should say that that 1993 package has, in fact, reduced the deficit. We had a Federal budget deficit in 1992…”

“I think we should say that that 1993 package has, in fact, reduced the deficit. We had a Federal budget deficit in 1992 of $290 billion. In 1993, that was reduced to $255 billion. Last year, it was further reduced to just over $200 billion. This year, the estimate is it will be further reduced to some $176 billion. The fact is, on that plan that the Senator from West Virginia and I both voted for, we did not get a single vote from the other side of the aisle; not a single vote. And voting for that plan took political courage, because it did cut spending. It cut over 100 programs by over $100 million. It also raised taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent. People, of course, do not want to pay more taxes. I do not want to pay more taxes. I levied more taxes on myself in that vote; I wound up paying more in taxes. But I did it because I recognized we have a national crisis. We have to get our fiscal house in order. And if we are to do that, it requires a plan. The point I wanted to make is that our friends on the other side of the aisle say they are for a balanced budget, but they have not come forward with a plan to do it. Talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. It is easy to say, 'I am for it.' The difficult thing is to put down a plan that actually starts to do it.”