John Spratt: “How is the tax cut funded? It was not funded at all. It simply goes straight to the bottom line. Something very…”

“How is the tax cut funded? It was not funded at all. It simply goes straight to the bottom line. Something very significant happened this year. This year when the Office of Management and Budget sent us the President's budget, they sent with it an analysis and a forecast which said, the surplus we have projected in the year 2001, for 2002 through 2011, that 10-year surplus we projected back then, was $5.637 trillion over 10 years. We made a mistake, said OMB. Looking at the economy as we see it and understanding it today, according to OMB, the true surplus today for that same time period, 2002 through 2011, is really about $2.492 trillion. We were off by that much, $3.2 trillion. They went on to say that of that $2.4 trillion, $2.5 trillion, more than that amount, about 2.6, has already been committed to tax cuts, spending increases, national defense, homeland security, and other things. Already committed. As a consequence, you start the process this year with no surplus. So if you have additional tax cuts or additional spending, it will go straight to the bottom line. There is no mitigation; no offset. It adds dollar for dollar to the deficit. And what did Mr. Bush propose? He proposed $2 trillion, 1 trillion 990- something billion dollars in additional budget actions that would add that much to the deficit over the next 10 years. It is a matter of record; OMB acknowledges it.”