Thomas Daschle: “I was disappointed this morning to read in one of the newspapers some of our Republican colleagues have already…”

“I was disappointed this morning to read in one of the newspapers some of our Republican colleagues have already pronounced this budget dead on arrival. What is there not to like about this budget? This is a budget that protects the Social Security surplus, a budget that ensures we protect the non-Social Security surplus for other commitments we may want to make in tax cuts or in dedicated investments, a budget that ensures the solvency of the Social Security trust fund through the year 2050 and Medicare through 2025, a budget that understands, as the Senator from Illinois said, there is a prudent middle-center approach that recognizes the importance of ensuring the tremendous strides we have made in reining in Government and doing what we must to make the efficiency of the Government our task. All this is in this budget, and we are told it is dead on arrival. I am somewhat stunned and disappointed that some of our colleagues, who I am sure have not thought through the implications of their statement, would comment without a more careful consideration of the extraordinary impact that this budget could have if we pursued it this year.”