Kent Conrad: “I say that because I come from a financial background. My colleague who just spoke from North Dakota has a financial…”

“I say that because I come from a financial background. My colleague who just spoke from North Dakota has a financial background. Frankly, Mr. President, if we were in any financial institution and said we were balancing the budget, when in part what we were doing was taking the retirement funds of our employees and throwing those into the pot, we would be laughed out of the room. Mr. President, that is not a balanced budget. The Chair knows that. I think every Senator in this room knows that. That is not a balanced budget. In fact, this budget shows a $103 billion deficit in the year 2002 if we are to exclude Social Security surpluses. Of course, we have to exclude them if we are going to be basing our determinations on honest accounting and on the law. That is not a balanced budget. I would point out that last year I offered the only plan that did balance the budget without counting Social Security surpluses. That was the fair share plan, and it got 39 votes here in the U.S. Senate.”