Lincoln Chafee: “here is the problem I find: We have a terrible deficit of $200 billion which every objective group says will rise to…”

“here is the problem I find: We have a terrible deficit of $200 billion which every objective group says will rise to over $300 billion and close to $400 billion by the end of the century. The Republicans have come up with a program that reaches a balanced budget not next year, not the year after, but 7 years away, which seems to me that would be a reasonable timetable to arrive at a situation where we are no longer sending the bills to our children. Now, the proposal that has emerged from the Republican Budget Committee has many harsh provisions to it. When we are reducing expenditures there are going to be difficulties, as we all recognize and as the Senator has ably pointed out. It affects this, affects that, affects things I am interested in, that the Senator is interested in, that the Presiding Officer is interested in. There is not one that will not find things we do not like. The question is, what is the alternative? I do not believe the answer is to say stop giving those tax cuts to rich people, because in the Domenici budget there are no tax cuts. Never mind the rich people. There are no tax cuts at all. So he has presented a budget which I know we will all find terribly challenging and difficult and dissatisfying. What is the alternative? Maybe the answer is to increase taxes. I do not believe that we can continue on the path we are, which consists of sending the bills to our children.”