Kent Conrad: “It is actually over 12 percent of GDP. Economists say it is utterly unsustainable. This is the course the President is…”

“It is actually over 12 percent of GDP. Economists say it is utterly unsustainable. This is the course the President is taking us on. The President's plan is not conservative. This is a reckless plan. It is a radical plan. It is a plan that cannot be allowed to continue. This plan will jeopardize not only Social Security and Medicare, but most of the rest of what the U.S. Government does, including our ability to defend ourselves. One does not need to take my word for it. We have been alerted by the head of the Federal Reserve, who has told us we ought to now consider cutting Social Security benefits because we are, in his words, ``overcommitted.'' And it is not just him. We can go to group after group that are responsible on budget issues that are saying: Look, you are on a course that is utterly reckless. The President told us on the issue of Social Security: None of the Social Security surplus will be used to fund other spending initiatives or tax relief. That is what he told us in his 2002 budget. But what we see is something quite different. In fact, he is taking every penny of Social Security surplus--again, it is really not surplus; it is surplus for the moment because when the baby boomers retire, all that money is going to be needed--he is taking every penny, $2.4 trillion over the next decade, and using it to fund primarily tax cuts.…”