Kent Conrad: “this matter before us, just to remind people after this interruption we have had, is about the so-called reconciliation…”

“this matter before us, just to remind people after this interruption we have had, is about the so-called reconciliation project. It is part of the budget agreement that was reached earlier this year. On our side, we do not believe this has anything to do with deficit reduction. As we see it, this budget increases the deficit dramatically, and expands the debt. In fact, under the 5 years of the terms of this budget agreement, the debt will increase by more than $3 trillion--$3 trillion. That is not my calculation; that is the calculation of those who have prepared this budget. So to be talking about deficit reduction here, I think, is utterly misleading. Now, it is true the matter before us at the moment--and I call it ``chapter 1'' of reconciliation. ``Chapter 1'' is called deficit reduction. That is because it slices spending by some $35 billion over the next 5 years. During the same time, the debt is going to go up by $3 trillion. But what is to come next week is the second chapter. The ``chapter 2'' is to reduce revenues by $70 billion. If you put the two together, the deficit is going to go up. But ``chapter 3'' is to increase the debt of the United States by $781 billion--$781 billion. If you couple that with the debt increases that have already occurred under this administration's watch, they will have increased the debt of the country, in just 5 years, by $3 trillion.…”