Kent Conrad: “I heard my colleague, the chairman of the Budget Committee, say that this would increase taxes on those who earn over $1…”

“I heard my colleague, the chairman of the Budget Committee, say that this would increase taxes on those who earn over $1 million a year. The cost of the tax cuts, in 2005, to those earning over $1 million a year, is $27 billion. I point out to my colleague that when it is a question of job creation, it is an interesting fact. It is true that during the Clinton administration the top marginal rate was increased from 31 percent to 39.6 percent. And guess what happened to economic activity and job creation. We had 22 million jobs created in this country with the 39.6- percent rate. Now we are down to 35 percent, and under this President 3 million jobs have been lost. If we go back to the Clinton years, the fact is, he put increased revenue into place, cut spending; and we went from 22.6 percent of GDP down to 19 percent of GDP on spending, and raised revenue, because President Clinton inherited from the previous President Bush the same mess this President Bush is creating: record budget deficits. The previous record, before this President, was in his father's administration. When President Clinton came in, he faced a $290 billion budget deficit. He put in place a 5-year plan that cut spending, raised revenue, balanced the budget, stopped the raid on Social Security. And guess what. We had 22 million jobs created, with the longest economic expansion in the Nation's history, the lowest unemployment in 30 years, and the lowest inflation in 30 years.”