Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I now yield to the Senator from California, Senator Boxer, for the purpose of presenting an amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CONRAD. I yield to the Senator from Minnesota, Mr. Dayton, for the purpose of offering an amendment. Amendment No. 409

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Let me complete this thought first, and then I will be happy to yield. He had the debt run up to $1.2 trillion after adopting his plans; in August of 2001, $1.6 trillion. In February of 2002, with the President's 2003 budget, the debt is up to $3.2 trillion. And if we adopt his budget for 2004, the debt by 2008 will be $5 trillion. I conclude by saying when we proposed additional spending to fund the war, to fund homeland security, and to improve education, we did it in a controlled way, every bit of it paid for, but we added deficit reduction so that we would have less deficit, less debt, a stronger economy, and more opportunity for the American people. When I see in the newspapers the President in his plan is down to $350 billion of tax cuts, oh, no, they are only looking at half the proposal. Right now the budget resolution that is before us has $852 billion in tax cuts, not the $350 billion that has been widely reported. When they are talking about the $350 billion, they are talking about the reconciled tax cuts, those that will be given special consideration which cannot be filibustered. So the total tax cuts in this plan are $852 billion. I am happy to yield to the Senator from Maryland for a question.

Mr. CONRAD. That is exactly what we are being told by the Congressional Budget Office. We now face, if we adopt the President's plans for massive tax cuts on top of the spending increases for defense and homeland security, which we all endorse--we endorse the increased funds for defense and homeland security--that we are going to have budget deficits as far as the eye can see, and they are not going to be small deficits. They are going to be massive deficits. This chart shows that, in fact, we are in the sweet spot now. This is not my chart. This comes from the President's own document. It shows in the period we are in now that the deficits, although they are record levels, are going to get much bigger. As we approach the retirement of the baby boom generation and as we approach the full phasing in of the President's proposed tax cuts, at the very time the cost of the Federal Government explodes, the retirement of the baby boom generation, the cost of the President's tax cuts explode, sending us right off the cliff into deficits and debt that are totally unsustainable. The other day one of our colleagues on the other side said Democrats were proposing spending that he suggested was just out of control. This chart shows the Democratic alternative we offered. This is a comparison of spending with the Republican plan, which is the green line, 18.8 percent of GDP; the blue line is our spending, 19.3 percent. One of the big reasons there is a difference is because we put the money in to pay for the war. We put the money in to pay for increased homeland security. So certainly we have more spending. We have more spending because we have responded to the President's call to put the spending in for the war. Our friends on the other side did not. Let me go to the next chart quickly. He also showed what he called the Democrat spend-o-meter. We can look at the Republican debt-o-meter because what they are doing is running up the debt. When the President took office, he told us that by 2008, there would only be $36 billion of debt left. In his 2002 budget, he said--

Mr. CONRAD. I will.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I thank the Chair for this opportunity this morning to bring to my colleagues' attention where we stand with respect to the budget resolution that we will be completing today. A very important report came out late yesterday from the Congressional Budget Office, which is nonpartisan, which is in charge of estimating the effects of what we do here. I might add, while the CBO is nonpartisan, because the Republicans control the House and the Senate, they were able to choose the new CBO Director. One of the tests they had was the use of so-called dynamic scoring. The gentleman who now heads CBO is committed to dynamic scoring, and he has now released an analysis of the budget before us based on dynamic scoring. His conclusion is exactly what I have been reporting to my colleagues day after day on the floor: Tax cuts will make the deficit soar. I hope we can put this old canard to rest once and for all that somehow you can tax cut your way to prosperity when at the same time you are increasing spending. When you start from a base of record budget deficits, there can only be one result. When you start with record budget deficits and then cut your revenue stream, as the President has proposed, by nearly $2 trillion and increase spending, the deficits and the debt are going to get bigger. The Congressional Budget Office is telling us that is exactly what we face. There was another article in the Washington Post on this same story. They point out: The CBO report also said the president's tax and spending proposals ``imply a deficit in every year over the next decade,'' thus adding to the national debt and to the annual interest payments on that debt beyond 2013. ``For some time, that added need could be met by running higher deficits. However, the federal government could not follow such an approach indefinitely. At some point in the future under the president's proposals, either taxes would have to be higher than they otherwise would have been, or spending would have to be lower,'' the report said. It is time we sober up around here. I do not know what happened to our friends on the other side who used to be fiscal conservatives, who used to believe in balanced budgets and now endorse tax cuts that are going to plunge us into deep deficit and debt. This is the analysis again from the Congressional Budget Office of what the plan before us will do. This is the President's budget plan: a deficit next year of $512 billion. That does not count the war costs. Add in the $75 billion the President wants for the war, and the deficit next year will be $587 billion. Does anybody have sticker shock around here yet? That is getting close to being twice as big as the previous record deficit. The analysis shows we will not be out of deficit any year for the next 10 years. But that is not the most sobering effect. None of the deficits will be less than $400 billion.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. All right.

Mr. CONRAD. I think that will actually use up all the time, I say to the Senator.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 10 minutes for the Senator from Virginia, followed by the Senator from Maryland for 8 minutes, the Senator from Utah for 8 minutes, and 8 minutes for the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. CONRAD. Would that be fair for the Senator, if we equally divide the remaining time?

Mr. CONRAD. So there would be 25 minutes.

Mr. CONRAD. How much time does the Senator from Maryland seek?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would also like to get in this queue. So we make sure, maybe we can specify the times as well so that we know that we have got enough time before 11:30. How much time does the Senator from Virginia----

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I wish to say we, too, believe this has been a productive day. This is the way this Senate ought to operate. It was well organized, and I thank the chairman for his contribution to that organization and to the tone that was evidenced throughout today in terms of the debate. I really thought the tone today reflected the best of the Senate. These were real debates on real substance and conducted in a way that I think we can all be proud. Again, I thank the chairman for helping to set that tone and also for his participation in the organization of these amendments so that colleagues could know what was happening, what was going to happen next. I thought it went very well.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, just before the last amendment, the Senator from Pennsylvania held up a series of charts purporting to be total spending advocated by our side of the aisle during the budget consideration. I have no idea where he got those numbers from because they bear no relationship to what has been offered on this side. No. 1, we did not offer a package of spending increases. We offered a series of amendments that were offered one at a time to increase resources for education, for homeland security, for national defense, and a series of other national priorities. Again, they were not offered as a package. Even if one were to consider them a package, they do not add up to $675 billion or $650 billion or $400 billion or $300 billion. It is $231 billion--$231 billion--all of it paid for by reducing the size of the tax cuts being proposed by the other side. The President proposed $1.6 trillion in tax cuts. The budget resolution offered over $1.3 trillion out of the committee. It was over $1.3 trillion. The budget substitute I offered on our side reduced the deficit included in the President's budget by over $1.2 trillion. Yes, we had some additional spending, very modest. Over the 10 years, we would go to a total spending as a percentage of GDP at 19.3 percent compared to the budget resolution offered by our colleagues on the other side of 18.8 percent, so slightly more spending over the years for education, for homeland security, for national defense, and we paid for the war in our substitute. This series of charts that were held up by the Senator from Pennsylvania bear no relationship in fact to amendments that were offered today by our side. I repeat, those amendments were not offered as a package. They were offered individually. Even if you count them all, they add up to $231 billion. Again, you cannot do that either because they were not offered as a package. Many of them were defeated. So if you offer a subsequent amendment, you cannot then add that to a defeated amendment. I do not know where he ever came up with the number $675 billion because it bears absolutely no relationship to what occurred today. I thought it was important to set the record straight, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CONRAD. We are willing to take the amendment on this side as well.

Mr. CONRAD. We have no objection on this side.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I request the yeas and nays.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I yield to Senator Cantwell for the purpose of offering an amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I yield to the Senator from Indiana, Mr. Bayh.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CONRAD. I yield to the Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer.