John Spratt: “in 1 minute this chart says it all. These are the reasons we cannot support this tax bill. It starts with the surplus, a…”

“in 1 minute this chart says it all. These are the reasons we cannot support this tax bill. It starts with the surplus, a blue sky surplus estimated at $5.6 trillion. We then back out what everybody agrees we should back out, the surplus in Social Security, the surplus in Medicare. That gives us an available surplus of $2.527 trillion. And what is the cost of this tax cut? When we add debt service, associated debt service, and when we also add the cost of extenders we know will be provided and the cost of fixing the AMT, it is $2.3 trillion. That leaves $207 billion to cover other priorities and Social Security. It leaves no room for error, no room for other priorities, no room for Social Security and Medicare. That is why we are offering a much more moderate substitute that is balanced and will provide for all of these things, including tax reduction.”