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[Page S5075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BUDGET AGREEMENT
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on another matter--this is on deficits.
I am not in the habit of commenting on every opinion issued by
newspapers I don't typically agree with, but this week, the Wall Street
Journal wrote such a howler of an editorial that I feel compelled to.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board criticized the latest budget
agreement for its increase in domestic spending, wringing its hands
over the effect on deficits, while simultaneously praising defense
spending, which the editorial board believes, for some reason, has
nothing to do with deficits.
This, by the way, is the same editorial board that played head
cheerleader for the Republican tax bill, which contained such mammoth
tax cuts for the biggest corporations and the already wealthy that it
will add $2 trillion to our deficits--$2 trillion. Huge tax cuts
contributed more to the deficit than all of these spending programs put
together, but the Wall Street Journal cheered on the tax cuts and now
says: Don't spend for the middle class on things like education and
infrastructure that have broad support in America and helping kids go
to college. Don't spend on that because it increases the deficit, but
it is OK to pass massive tax cuts for the rich and the big corporations
that are already profitable.
So, for the sake of the record, the Wall Street Journal editorial
board believes deficits are really bad but only if they are caused by
investments in Americans' healthcare or education or infrastructure.
When deficits are caused by defense spending and when deficits are
caused by tax cuts for the wealthy, they are peachy.
The truth is, so many of my Republican friends have engaged in the
same egregious bit of hypocrisy. So I have a few words this morning for
my deficit-scolding friends Mick Mulvaney and the Wall Street Journal
editorial board: A deficit is a deficit is a deficit. They try to make
the argument that massive tax cuts won't create a deficit, but all the
numbers that are coming in now and are projected in the future say that
is just not true. If the Wall Street Journal really cared about
deficits above all, they wouldn't have supported the tax bill.
When the Senate debated these tax cuts in 2017, there were several
proposals on the table--many Democrats and Republicans supported them--
that would have reduced taxes on corporations while remaining deficit-
neutral. Many would have changed the Tax Code in ways I didn't support,
but nonetheless they would have held revenues and expenditures in line.
We didn't hear a peep out of the Journal to support those proposals--
oh, no. Democrats even put together a deficit-neutral middle-class tax
cut at the time, but Republicans ignored it and pushed through Congress
a bill that lined the pockets of the wealthy--blowing a $2 trillion
hole in our deficit. The Wall Street Journal could have said something
then. They didn't. They were asleep at the switch. They were asleep at
the switch then, and they are crying now.
The fact is, Republican tax cuts for the wealthy and endless wars in
the Middle East, championed by George Bush and the Republican Party,
are the big drivers of the Nation's debt and deficit, not nondefense
domestic spending.
President Obama, to his credit, cut the budget deficit in half during
his term. The last time we had a surplus was under a Democratic
President, Bill Clinton. In fact, every single Republican
administration has added to the deficit, while every single Democratic
administration has shrunk it since 1981--Reagan, deficit increased; H.
W., deficit increased; Bill Clinton, deficit goes down; George Bush,
deficit increased; Obama, deficit goes down; Donald Trump, deficit
going up. What does that say?
So, to the Wall Street Journal editorial board and my Republican
friends who are silent about Trump-era deficits but rail against
domestic spending, I say: Spare us. Enough. Enough with this deficit
hypocrisy.
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