[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 3024-3025]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



        BUDGET SHOULD BE AGREED UPON BEFORE TAX BILL IS DEBATED

  (Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, I rise on this, my maiden speech 
in the House of Representatives, to protest the policy conceived in 
haste, offered without consultation, and prosecuted almost without 
discussion.
  The question before us is not whether a $2 trillion tax cut is a good 
idea or a bad one, nor is it whether a tax cut is consistent with our 
acknowledged duties to protect Social Security and Medicare and to 
invest more resources in an increasingly burdened military.

[[Page 3025]]

The question, instead, is whether or not a budget, a budget, the master 
plan guiding spending and investments decisions of the Federal 
Government, should be agreed upon before we proceed to debate the 
merits of a tax cut.
  I support a tax cut, as do most of my colleagues. But a budget that 
sketches our spending needs against the backdrop of anticipated revenue 
will allow us to determine, and more importantly allow the people to 
determine, the magnitude of the appropriate tax cut. The sense of this 
approach is obvious, save to those people more interested in short-term 
political gain than the long-term solvency of our Federal Government.

                          ____________________