Kent Conrad: “He has said very clearly what this budget before us represents: a plunge off the cliff into unending deficits and…”

“He has said very clearly what this budget before us represents: a plunge off the cliff into unending deficits and debt--at the worst possible time. Here we are at war, the cost of which we cannot know, right on the brink of the retirement of the baby boom generation. We are already in record budget deficits. The Senator said the budget deficit, as some private forecasters indicate, will be over $400 billion this year. That doesn't count the $160 billion they are going to take out of the Social Security trust fund. On a true operating basis, we are going to have a deficit this year of more than $600 billion. Is anybody listening? And it doesn't end this year. We don't see the deficit on an operating basis, if this budget is adopted, ever getting below $300 billion to $400 billion a year. This is the sweet spot--the time the trust funds are throwing off big cash surpluses. When the baby boomers retire, we will go into cash deficits. Then the cost of the President's tax cuts truly explode, driving us off the cliff into deficits, and deficits that are totally unsustainable.”