Don Nickles: “to conclude, a couple of points. A deal is a deal. If we are going to break the deal, if we are going to be amending…”

“to conclude, a couple of points. A deal is a deal. If we are going to break the deal, if we are going to be amending what the size of the tax cut is, if people want to do that, then I am going to have an amendment. This amendment cuts the size of the tax cut by $30 billion. I am going to have an amendment to increase the tax cut by $30 billion. If this amendment spends $20 billion more, I am going to have an amendment to spend less money someplace else. In other words, this bill unravels the whole package and people will find out this is not the easiest package to craft. There is no question it unravels the package, if one would just look at the budget package we already have. So I urge my colleagues, if for no other reason, to vote ``no''. Also, likewise, I urge them to vote no on the substance. Somebody said something about, wait a minute, because you are trying to defend tobacco--that is hogwash. If my colleagues want to have an amendment to raise tobacco prices, let them do it. But let's not be doubling the size of the new entitlement program before the new entitlement program even starts. Let's not more than double it in the name of fiscal austerity. It is ridiculous. When the tax package comes out, if people want to, on the reconciliation bill, if they want to have an increase in the tobacco tax, so be it. If we offset it with another tax reduction, maybe I will support it. But let's not do it in this package.”