John Spratt: “I think it should be obvious to almost any citizen, every fair-minded person, that a budget accumulating a deficit of $3…”

“I think it should be obvious to almost any citizen, every fair-minded person, that a budget accumulating a deficit of $3 trillion to $4 trillion over the next 10 years, and possibly more, plotted by this line right here, is a budget that is not sustainable and should not be passed. The Republicans have brought to the floor and will bring up tomorrow a budget resolution that, in effect, hides the outyear consequences because they simply quit in 2009. They do not go further. They do not extrapolate what will happen when the tax cuts, passed in 2001, 2002 and 2003, are made permanent. But what will happen is shown on this chart: the deficit will never get better. We have decided that this kind of problem requires bold decisions, and this budget resolution brought to the floor tomorrow by the majority party does not make them. Our budget fiscally will sustain smaller deficits each year and every year from 2005 through 2014 because we do not fear the extension of our budget into the outyears, because we propose a path through those years that will eventually bring us to balance. Indeed, our budget will balance in 8 years, by the year 2012, using realistic and reasonable assumptions.”