David Thomas: “Mr. Speaker, we are going to engage in a debate about whether or not the tax bill that was enacted into law last year…”

“Mr. Speaker, we are going to engage in a debate about whether or not the tax bill that was enacted into law last year does not end 10 years from now, but, rather, is open-ended. We are going to hear a series of statements which, frankly, will become very baffling to many people in this debate trying to follow what it is that Members of Congress are saying. I will try to provide a firm set of measuring tools as we get into this debate. Number one, no matter how many times it is going to be said that we are invading, raiding, doing anything with the Social Security trust fund, that statement is not true. We will hear a number of dollar amounts thrown around. I guess $700 billion is a lot of money. I cannot comprehend it from a personal revenue point of view. $1 trillion is a lot of money. The economy is currently producing at about $10 trillion a year. It is very, very difficult for most people, and I would say, frankly, for this Member and most Members of Congress, to really put those dollar amounts in some kind of context.”