Kent Conrad: “I would say to him, look, if the Federal Government raises the money, the Federal Government is going to have something…”

“I would say to him, look, if the Federal Government raises the money, the Federal Government is going to have something to say about how the money is spent. If the Governors want to make all the decisions on how the money is to be spent, then they raise the money. That is an appropriate State-Federal relationship. It is ridiculous and extreme to say that the Federal Government should levy the taxes and raise the money but the States will decide how it is spent. I will follow up with a question on the matter of a plan to balance the budget. Last week, I came down to the floor and gave a speech on something I have detected that I call the Republican credibility gap. It is more than a gap now. It is a chasm. In fact, it is approaching Grand Canyon size. This chart shows what would need to be done to balance the budget over the next 7 years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, we would need over $1 trillion in cuts over the next 7 years.”