Bob Kerrey: “for the first time in a quarter century this budget resolution is being debated in an environment, where rather than…”

“for the first time in a quarter century this budget resolution is being debated in an environment, where rather than talking about getting rid of the deficit, we are able to talk with great enthusiasm about what to do with the surplus. We are talking about tax cuts and various spending programs. There is no question that the recovery of the economy of the United States of America--deficit reduction efforts in the past in combination with tremendous changes on the part of entrepreneurs and businesses and individuals out there--has produced the best economic scene I have seen in my entire lifetime, with increases in productivity, growth in the number of jobs, and a reduction in welfare rolls. You have to look long and hard to find bad economic news out there. In 1990, this Congress debated a deficit reduction act that was largely a result of President Bush's leadership. We put in place at that time the mechanism that we still use today. It has caps on spending that we, for the most part, have lived within. It is that discipline that is required by the law, it seems to me, that requires every time somebody wants to do a new program, they have to find a way to pay for it. You just cannot come down here and throw new spending on a budget or new tax cuts on a budget without having an offset someplace. It is that discipline, coupled with the 1993 act and the 1997 act, that I think the American people appreciate very much.…”