Kent Conrad: “I take issue with my colleague on this question of spending. This chart demonstrates the long-term relationship between…”

“I take issue with my colleague on this question of spending. This chart demonstrates the long-term relationship between spending and outlays going back to 1981. This is the outlay line, the spending of the Federal Government. It was over 23 percent of gross domestic product in 1982 and has been brought down steadily. When Democrats were in control in 1993, we put in place a 5-year plan. Look what it did to spending. I hear the allegation that Democrats are the spenders. Let's look at the historical record. When Democrats had control in 1993, this is the trajectory we put spending on--down as a percentage of our gross domestic product, which economists say is the right way to measure spending over time because you are taking out the effects of inflation. We did increase revenues because we faced massive deficits. These deficits during this period were huge as a percentage of gross domestic product. So we cut spending; we raised revenue; we balanced budgets; we turned deficits into surpluses; we stopped raiding Social Security trust funds. We kicked off the longest period of economic growth in our Nation's history. We had the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the lowest inflation in 30 years, the strongest business investment in history. That is our record. We are proud of it. When the talk is about spending, let's look at the comparison.…”