Kent Conrad: “I say to the Senator, we look at each of these budget proposals from the other side and, under any one of them, they are…”

“I say to the Senator, we look at each of these budget proposals from the other side and, under any one of them, they are going to add $3 trillion to the national debt over the next 5 years. And the next 5 years is the good times. After that, the baby boomers retire and the full cost of the President's tax cuts explode. Then you see the real effect of these policies. Frankly, I am less concerned about the deficits we face in the near term. I am much more concerned that under the President's plan we don't see any end to these deficits. In fact, the additions to the debt absolutely explode and at the worst possible time, right before the baby boomers retire. The President has said it is the slowdown in the economy that is the problem. The Congressional Budget Office issued a report just the other day. This is the New York Times report on the CBO research. It says: When President Bush and his advisers talk about the widening Federal budget deficit, they usually place part of the blame on economic shocks ranging from the recession of 2001 to the terrorist attacks that year. But a report released on Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that economic weakness would account for only 6 percent of a budget shortfall that could reach a record $500 billion this year.…”