During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) spoke about the GOP's proposed tax cuts.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Colleagues, back in 1974, the Senate and the House were very agitated over the increases
00:10in the national annual deficit that was adding considerably to the national debt.
00:18They said, we need to do something about this.
00:22Now the levels that they were concerned about at that time seemed so small today.
00:29The debt to GDP ratio was 23%.
00:33Now we're over 100%.
00:36The annual deficit was about $6 billion.
00:39Now we're about $2 trillion of annual deficit.
00:43The total debt was only a third of a trillion, rather than now $37 trillion.
00:53But those increases were seen as such a threat to the future of our nation that Democrats
00:57and Republicans together, House members and Senate together said, we have to get this
01:03under control.
01:04So they created a bill, the 1974 Budget and Impoundment Control Act, to say we can't let
01:12this go forward.
01:14And here's what it did.
01:16First of all, it created a fast track for a special bill called a reconciliation bill
01:22that would reduce the deficit and not add more to the debt.
01:26The second of all is it says we have to have integrity in numbers.
01:31When Republicans are in charge, they tend to increase the deficits and then want to
01:36use smoke screens in order to say we're not really doing that.
01:40When the Democrats are in charge, same thing.
01:43They both wanted to undertake strategies that increase the deficit, but pretend they were
01:48being fiscally responsible.
01:50So they said, we must have integrity on the numbers.
01:54So we're going to create a new organization.
01:56The Congressional Budget Office will be an independent assessor of the cost of any change
02:02in law related to programs or related to tax revenue.
02:10Honesty and integrity will be the foundation for the debate that takes place in this chamber.
02:15Honesty and integrity will be the foundation of the debate that takes place in the House
02:18chamber down the hall.
02:20Honesty and integrity in numbers will be the foundation for the American people who
02:24are following the decision making that is made by their representatives in the House
02:29and Senate.
02:30So two pillars, a fast track for reducing deficits, a reconciliation bill, and integrity
02:36in numbers by using Congressional Budget Office, creating it, and using their numbers to have
02:41honesty in the debate of policy and revenue plans.
02:47Well that first pillar, it was destroyed in 1996 by a nuclear option done by the Republican
02:53majority who said, you know what, we're going to reinterpret the law.
02:58So instead of just using this fast track to reduce the deficit, we're going to also use
03:02it for tax policy that will increase the deficit.
03:08Well today, the second pillar of integrity in the numbers is under attack by the Republican
03:16majority.
03:17They have lost their minds when it comes to fiscal responsibility.
03:22They destroyed first a couple decades ago the fast track dedicated only to deficit reduction,
03:30and now they want to destroy the integrity in the accounting for what a tax policy costs
03:38or what a program policy costs.
03:44All for a simple purpose, and that is they have a plan.
03:49And that plan is to put forward a proposal that will cost an additional amount to the
03:56debt of 37 trillion dollars over the next 30 years.
04:01But they want to tell this chamber that that 37 trillion dollar addition to the debt is
04:07actually a zero dollar addition.
04:10They want to tell the American people that that 37 trillion dollar addition to the national
04:15debt that's in their plan is actually a zero dollar addition.
04:22I can tell you that a 37 trillion dollar deception, that's not a minor fraud.
04:30That is a major fraud.
04:32And in the process, they're destroying the integrity not just for this budget cycle,
04:37but for every budget cycle to come.
04:42The gimmick that they're putting forward to accomplish this diabolical plot is called
04:49current policy baseline.
04:53And why do they want to pursue this Republican plan?
04:59Because they want to give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and do so not only for
05:05a 10 year period, but for a permanent tax breaks into the future.
05:13It's not just magic math, I mean that's almost too nice a name to give to it.
05:17It's devastating fraud.
05:21Last week, the credit office released a report requested by a Republican congressman, by
05:27David Schweikert.
05:31And he'd asked him how much will this fraud cost, this Republican plan cost.
05:36And CBO laid it out, 37 trillion dollars of additional debt over the next 30 years.
05:45It so happens that right now, our current national debt is just shy of 37 trillion dollars.
05:53They want to say, the debt that's been run up in the last 250 years, next year we're
06:02celebrating our 250th year as a nation.
06:04The debt that's been run up over this first 250 years, we're going to add that additional
06:09amount with one bill, with one vote in this budget cycle.
06:15This is fraud on an unparalleled scale.
06:21Schweikert then said, quote, anyone that says current policy baseline is the right way to
06:30go is engaging in intellectual and economic fraud.
06:34It's intellectually lazy.
06:37My basic mission in life is just try to create some honest math.
06:42Honest math is what Democrats and Republicans together said they were pursuing in 1974.
06:48House and Senate together, honest math.
06:51Honest math is on the verge of destruction.
06:53Chip Roy of Texas said, this plan, referring to the plan, this is fairy dust.
07:00And they're full of crap.
07:01And I'm going to call them out on it.
07:05Anyone who cares about growing deficits and growing debt should call them out on it.
07:1137 trillion dollars in this Republican plan of additional debt, and then adopting a gimmick
07:17to tell the American people, and this chamber, it costs zero.
07:24You know, in a free market, businesses need transparency.
07:28Transparency, so investors can decide if things are going the right direction.
07:33The board of directors of a company can change directions.
07:36They know that they have to have integrity in their numbers.
07:41They know that it's important for their board of directors.
07:44Businesses also know it's important for their, those who buy their stock, the investors.
07:50If without honest numbers, they can't make good decisions about where they go.
07:54It's the same is true for us in government.
07:57If we are not willing to use honest government, honest numbers, we can't make good decisions
08:02about how we go forward.
08:04It's that important.
08:06Integrity and honesty in our numbers is that important.
08:12That is the debate we need to have, an honest examination.
08:16Are you for or against a plan that will add 37 trillion dollars to the debt on top of
08:23what additions might otherwise happen under current law?
08:27That is the question that we will be facing.
08:32You know, this idea of integrity in the numbers, it existed before the 1974 Budget Control
08:38Act, but it was so important to have outside numbers that people could rely on, independent
08:46numbers, bipartisan numbers, or non-partisan numbers.
08:49They created a whole agency, the Congressional Budget Office, to produce those numbers.
08:54It's that essential.
08:55So you don't have some think tank giving you pretend numbers from the right or some other
08:59think tank giving you pretend numbers from the left.
09:01It's that important.
09:04You know, this plan, this Republican plan, is like a landlord saying, don't worry, your
09:10rent is free over the next 30 years because we're not making any changes to your tenant
09:20contract.
09:22What a farce, because you know you have to keep paying that rent every single month.
09:2737 trillion dollars being hidden through, of additional debt, being hidden through a
09:33gimmick.
09:34Now, I pointed out this enormous addition of the debt.
09:40But what is the purpose?
09:41It's to give tax giveaways to the richest Americans.
09:4760% of the additional debt, it goes to the richest 10% in America.
09:55Half of that additional debt, 37 trillion, half of it goes to the richest 5% of Americans.
10:01So they're not just running up 37 trillion in additional debt, they're running up 37
10:07additional debt to give the vast majority of it to the already richest Americans.
10:13This is a straightforward, simple provision of which families lose and billionaires win.
10:24They're going to attack the spending on Medicaid, that is health insurance that a good third
10:31of America approximately relies on, that veterans rely on, that programs that support those
10:38with disabilities rely on.
10:40They're going to attack that program for tax giveaways to the richest Americans.
10:45They're going to steal from Social Security and make it dysfunctional and already the
10:48lines are starting to pile up and the phones aren't answered in order to give tax breaks
10:53to the richest Americans.
10:56They're going to betray working families with a tax on health care, housing, and education.
11:02Why?
11:03To give massive tax breaks to the richest Americans.
11:06The situation is clear.
11:10Families lose and billionaires win.
11:16Democrats are paying attention.
11:18My colleagues, the Republicans, need to pay attention.
11:22They have said when they are running that they are for fiscal responsibility.
11:27They are for decreasing the deficit.
11:30But in fact, their plan increases the deficits massively, an additional $4 trillion over
11:37the next two years, additional $37 trillion in debt over the next 30 years, to give tax
11:46breaks to the wealthiest Americans while slashing programs for ordinary working families
11:52to thrive.
11:54This is a vast portrayal of Trump's campaign plan.
11:59He campaigned on being a champion for families.
12:03But that was the campaign.
12:05Now he's in office.
12:07And the real plan?
12:09Families lose, billionaires win.
12:12We must reject this gimmick that destroys the integrity of the budgeting process.
12:20One pillar, a filibuster-free pathway for deficit reduction, destroyed by my Republican
12:25colleagues in 1996.
12:28The second pillar, integrity in numbers using an outside, independent CBO to give us honest
12:36numbers to work with here and for the American people, to be destroyed under the current
12:41policy baseline being proposed right now.
12:45Be wake, pay attention, and say hell no to this massive fraud on the American people.
12:54Thank you, Mr. President.