Lloyd Bentsen: “Mr. Chairman, there is a big difference between the Republican and the Democratic budgets, and one of those big…”

“Mr. Chairman, there is a big difference between the Republican and the Democratic budgets, and one of those big differences is the amount of debt that is paid down. The Republican budget does not use one cent of the on-budget surplus to pay down the national debt, whereas the Democratic budget uses 40 percent of the projected on-budget surplus to pay down the national debt, on top of the Social Security surplus, which both budgets, to be honest, propose paying down the debt. But then there is a key difference as well, and that is that the Republican budget is predicated on unsustainable cuts in domestic discretionary spending that the Republican Congresses themselves, since 1995, have failed to make. The Congressional Budget Office, in its most recent report, found that the Republican Congresses had increased nondefense discretionary spending above the rate of inflation, which is contrary to what they have in their budget. Therefore, combined with the trillion dollar tax cut that is in here, the Republican budget would end up not only eating through the on-budget surplus but would also go into the Social Security surplus. So, actually, they are paying down far less debt than what we propose in the Democratic budget.”