Orrin Hatch: “That is real debt. And let us just understand the basic principle of government. The President proposes, whoever that…”

“That is real debt. And let us just understand the basic principle of government. The President proposes, whoever that President may be, but the Congress disposes. To be honest with you, Reagan's tax cuts involved 40 percent growth in revenues more than they had predicted. But he had to deal primarily with the House of Representatives where all money bills must originate, controlled by those who did not agree with him, who kept spending. And that is Congress. And even those in the 1980's who did not agree with President Reagan and wanted to spend more in Congress, even they should not be totally blamed for this because this all began basically with the Great Society programs that have been going out of control ever since. We now have almost two-thirds of the budget in entitlement spending. I know President Reagan did not ask for that. Neither did President Bush, and neither, I guess you can say, has President Clinton. I do not even think President Carter asked for that. We did that.”