John Spratt: “I will show the gentleman the disparity between the budget on the floor today and the President's budget, and the reason…”

“I will show the gentleman the disparity between the budget on the floor today and the President's budget, and the reason we said this budget we are voting on today is not a real budget. When the President sent up his budget, he asked for $675 billion in additional tax cuts, on top of the $1.35 trillion cut last year; another $675 billion. Some of it is for things that are going to come up, extenders, that are expiring tax provisions that are very popular and we will all vote for them. The research and experimentation tax credit is a good example. When it expires we will renew it. This budget today provided only $28.8 billion, an allowance of just under $30 billion, versus the President's request for $675 billion. What is the right number? One of the biggest issues of all is what happens to last year's tax cuts. Passed last June, by agreement with the Senators who voted for it that made up the majority, the amount of revenue reduction was limited to $1.35 trillion. To shoe horn that into the budget, it was phased in over time, and then in the year 2010 everything that was phased in would suddenly become a pumpkin, it would expire, we know that is not going to happen. Nevertheless, when we got this 5 year budget, they limited it to 5 years because that precluded them from having to deal with the decision, what happens if you make this tax cut permanent? It has a huge effect on revenues and a backwash effect at the present time.”