Thomas Daschle: “I will predict that surplus is going to change one way or the other over the next 6 months, the next 6 years--for any…”

“I will predict that surplus is going to change one way or the other over the next 6 months, the next 6 years--for any length of time. In fact, I think the surplus projections are the fiscal equivalent of the dot-com stock market. They will continue to be volatile. We know how volatile they can be. We projected deficits as far as the eye could see a few years ago. We could see those deficits come back completely in a very short period of time. We don't know. There will continue to be volatility in predictions of surplus just as there has been volatility in the dot-com stock market. Let's keep that in mind. When you add all the Republican tax breaks to date, and add the Bush Social Security privatization proposal and it comes to $3.4 trillion. That exceeds by more than 50 percent the available surplus.”