John Spratt: “Mr. Chairman, let me put a few things about this debate in perspective. There has been a lot of talk on the floor today…”

“Mr. Chairman, let me put a few things about this debate in perspective. There has been a lot of talk on the floor today about tax increases, tax cuts and spending increases. Let me try to put the tax cuts, in particular, in perspective. In 2001, with what seemed to be a substantial surplus, there was a case to be made for tax reduction. I disagreed with the distribution that was proposed and particularly with the size, and I said right here in the well of the House, if my colleagues pass a tax cut of this size and if the surplus does not pan out and it could disappear in the blink of an economist's eye, I said, we are going to find the budget right back in the red again, borrowing and spending the Social Security trust fund. And, unfortunately, that is exactly what has happened. So a person could have made a case in 2001, but today, that case no longer applies because there is no surplus today. It is gone. It vanished. We only have deficits as far out as the forecasters project their forecast.”