Sylvester Turner: “the President's recently submitted general budget outline leaves a lot of questions remaining about his tax cut plan.…”

“the President's recently submitted general budget outline leaves a lot of questions remaining about his tax cut plan. Frankly, it appears that trying to fit his tax cut into a realistic budget is like trying to fit a size 11 foot into a size 6 shoe. The American people understand there is no surplus today and that forecasting the surplus for the next 10 years is a lot like making a 10-year weather forecast. We do not want oversized tax cuts to take us back to the choice of deficit spending or higher taxes for our children. Now the leadership in the House wants us to take a vote on a major tax cut before the House has even adopted, or even debated, a budget. Tax cuts are an important priority, but equally important is paying down our $5.6 trillion national debt, saving Social Security and Medicare for the future baby boomer retirement, and strengthening education and national defense. Blue Dog Democrats have come to the floor this morning to say we are for the largest tax cut we can afford, and to know what we can afford we need a budget first.”