Jim Langevin: “today our Chamber threw away any semblance of fiscal responsibility by passing H.R. 2, the Republican tax bill that…”

“today our Chamber threw away any semblance of fiscal responsibility by passing H.R. 2, the Republican tax bill that provides more massive tax cuts, while ignoring the need of the majority of Americans. Two years ago the administration and Congress were looking covetously at a staggering $5.6 trillion cumulative surplus through 2010. At the time Congress was continually reassured by the administration that we could afford an enormous tax cut, ensure the solvency of Social Security and Medicare, pay down the national debt, fund our domestic priorities and still have a large surplus reserve fund to front anticipated emergencies. Like many of my colleagues, I cautioned the administration at the time that its budget and enormous tax cut were based on unrealistic surplus projections that would never materialize. Not surprisingly the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that in less than 2 years the 10-year projected surplus has been erased. While portions of this decline are a result of our efforts to defeat terrorism and preserve national security both at home and abroad, the depletion of the surplus to date was largely caused by the administration's fiscally irresponsible policies of 2001. What do we get for these tax cuts which were supposed to stimulate our economy? Well, we now have the highest unemployment rate in 9 years. Severe cuts in State budgets and programs and the largest among deficit in national debt in our Nation's history.”