Kent Conrad: “the Senator from Texas is wrong about the amendment of the Senator from Ohio. I just say this. Some of what the Senator…”

“the Senator from Texas is wrong about the amendment of the Senator from Ohio. I just say this. Some of what the Senator from Texas says I agree with. I really do think we have a circumstance that requires us to think very carefully about how we are going to deal with requests for additional spending, requests for additional tax reductions, because, as I calculate it, the cupboard is bare. We are already into the trust funds or are poised to be if the items in the budget resolution are enacted. We are into the trust funds, just based on the tax cut that has passed, based on the budget resolution that has passed, and based on reductions in revenue because of the economic slowdown. Tongue in cheek, the Senator from Texas suggests it is my ascension to chairman of the Budget Committee that has somehow led to these events. I can assure the Senator from Texas that it was not my becoming chairman of the Budget Committee that led to the economic slowdown, and it was not my ascension to the Budget Committee chairmanship that led to the passage of the budget resolution. I opposed it. It wasn't my position as Budget Committee chairman that led to the passage of the tax bill. I opposed it because I predicted then we would face the circumstance I believe we face now. That is, we have just done too much and the result is we have a problem. I am not for raising taxes at a time of economic slowdown.”