George Voinovich: “I rise out of concern for our generation and also for the generations of our children and grandchildren and the legacy…”

“I rise out of concern for our generation and also for the generations of our children and grandchildren and the legacy we leave them. It has been said that the real test for a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. With that in mind, I speak about the reconciliation tax bill before the Senate. First, I comment on the larger context of what I and others see as a great threat to our future way of life. Comptroller General David Walker has said that the greatest threat to our future is our fiscal irresponsibility. He also says: America suffers from a serious case of myopia or nearsightedness both in the public sector and the private sector. We need to start focusing more on the future, we need to recognize the reality that we are on an imprudent and unsustainable fiscal path and we need to get started now. In November of last year, Alan Greenspan testified before the Joint Economic Committee and told Congress: We should not be cutting taxes by borrowing. We do not have the capability of having both productive tax cuts and large expenditure increases, and presume that the deficit doesn't matter. I, for one, am taking this warning very seriously, and I have since I have been a Member of the Senate. I strongly believe deficits do matter.…”