John Spratt: “Mr. Speaker, this goes back to something that our President called fuzzy math. And if I seem hung up on the topic of…”

“Mr. Speaker, this goes back to something that our President called fuzzy math. And if I seem hung up on the topic of math, it is because arithmetic is important when you are putting together a budget. What they are telling us is they can run a $96 billion surplus in the year 2012 even though they are taking tax cuts that will take $231 billion in revenues out of the Federal Treasury. It is a stretch, to say the least. That involves assuming that we will have a surplus in the year 2012 of $327 billion. How far from that are we today? Last year we had a deficit of $248 billion. If we are to move to a surplus of $327 billion by the year 2012, there has to be a movement in the right direction, a positive movement of $575 billion. Let's hope it happens, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. They then say and just said we are raiding Social Security. How absurd can you get? Here it is right here. The Social Security surplus is $255 billion. They do not even claim more than $96 billion on the surplus. If they left the tax cut out, they would indeed have enough bottom line, 96 plus 231, to cover the surplus, but they haven't done that. Here on the bottom line, the back of an envelope, is a simple chart that I bring down to the well with me every time I talk because we need to be reminded. When President Bush came to office, the national debt was $5.7 trillion.”