David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, the last 2 years the Republican majority has pushed $2 trillion in tax cuts through this House. A huge…”

“Mr. Chairman, the last 2 years the Republican majority has pushed $2 trillion in tax cuts through this House. A huge percentage of those cuts have been focused on the top 1 percent of earners in this country who make over 100,000 bucks a year. For those 2 years, the Republican Party has pretended that there are no costs associated with those tax cuts. Well, there are, and on this bill is where those costs become evident. This is where the chickens come home to roost. Cost number one is $26 billion a year in additional interest payments that our taxpayers will have to pay next year because every single dollar of the tax cut that was passed was paid for with borrowed money. The second cost that is incurred is that because all of the dollars have been put into tax cuts, 'ain't no more money left' for Medicare fix-ups, 'ain't no more money left' to do a real as opposed to a 'let's pretend' prescription drug program, and there isn't nearly enough money left to make the necessary investments that American families depend upon in the education and health care and worker protection area, and this is where those consequences show up on this bill.”