Ron Kind: “Mr. Speaker, this debate is not about whether there is bipartisanship support for tax relief. There is. It is just a…”

“Mr. Speaker, this debate is not about whether there is bipartisanship support for tax relief. There is. It is just a matter of whether it is going to be responsible and fair. President Bush, during his first address to Congress here a couple of weeks ago, quoted Yogi Berra by saying if we come to a fork in the road we should take it. Well, Yogi Berra was also famous for having said ``this is deja vu all over again,'' and it is. When we compare the Reagan economic plan of 1981 with what is being attempted today, it is deja vu all over again. The Reagan plan led to 15 consecutive years of deficit financing. We could get away with that then, with a $1 trillion debt at that time. I am afraid that we will not be able to get away with it again with the baby-boomers about to retire at a $5.7 trillion debt today. I hope we are not merely repeating history by basing large tax cuts on speculative budget surpluses that may never materialize 10 years from now. This plan is irresponsible because once all of President Bush's campaign tax-cut promises are added up, the total of cost of his plan will easily exceed $2 trillion.”