Kent Conrad: “I think he knows, as we all know, that the choice is not the choice between spending and a tax cut. It is really more…”

“I think he knows, as we all know, that the choice is not the choice between spending and a tax cut. It is really more complicated than that. It is the question of what is the appropriate mix of tax cut, debt paydown, and reserving resources for these high-priority domestic needs such as improving education and a prescription drug benefit. The most stark differences are that we have reserved much more of the projected surplus for the paydown of national debt. They have a tax cut that is about twice as big as ours. We have about twice as much reserved for the paydown of our national debt, both short-term and long-term. We think that is a better set of priorities. We have also reserved additional resources for improving education and for a prescription drug benefit and for strengthening our national defense. We think those are the priorities of the American people. The President has said very often this is the people's money. We agree with that. Absolutely, this is the people's money. Some of it should be returned to them in a tax cut. Some of it should be used to pay down our collective national debt. After all, that is the people's debt. We also ought to strengthen Social Security because that is the people's Social Security program.”