Political Quotes

“we have heard a lot of talk on the floor in the last few weeks about the deficits we are facing and about the irrational conduct of the President proposing reductions in taxes. I want to point out the exercise we are engaged in right now. As the Senator from Massachusetts said, we are talking about real money. It is real money. What is being proposed in these amendments is real money that will add real dollars to the deficit. I am going to start a process with every amendment we vote on. We are going to keep a running tally of how much money--over this period of time we are proposing amendments to add spending--we will add to the deficits over the next 10 years. The Byrd amendment, which got 45 Democratic votes, adds $5 billion for this year. People have to understand when you add $5 billion this year, it becomes part of the baseline, which is $5 billion not just this year but for 10 more years, plus inflation and the interest costs it takes to finance that deficit; that is $70 billion over 10 years. That $5 billion you voted for this year is $70 billion over 10 years. We don't know what the vote is yet on the Kennedy amendment, but it is $6 billion; over 10 years, it is $84 billion. So these two votes add up to $154 billion. And we are just starting, folks. It is $154 billion added to the deficit. So let's look at the folks who are crying about how we don't have enough money to let people keep some of it, but we certainly have enough to spend more of it.”