[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24932]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              THE DEFICIT

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I know my colleague from South Dakota is 
waiting. I will try not to consume the entire 20 minutes. But let me 
first talk about deficit for a moment, since my colleague from Alabama 
described that.
  I do not think there is anyone in here who takes a look at the fiscal 
policy we are on--and have been on for a long time--and feels very 
comfortable about it. It is not sustainable and we have to change it. 
But I do want to say this. It was not too long ago that this country 
went to war and, at the same time, cut taxes and did not pay for a 
penny of the war. In fact, even now we have people saying: Let's send 
40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. I do not hear anybody suggesting we 
pay for that. What is that going to cost?
  I will talk next week about my interest in what is happening in 
Afghanistan. I have been there. I have some real concerns about sending 
a lot of additional troops to Afghanistan and about our vital national 
interests. But let me say, whether it is fighting a war or deciding to 
send 40,000 more troops to another country, it costs money. Is 
everybody here willing to pay for it? Anybody willing to pay for it?
  We have talked about this for years. We are in the middle of a war. 
We send men and women to the battlefield, and the fact is, not a penny 
of it has been paid for. In the previous administration, they insisted 
on tax cuts and pursuing a war strategy in Iraq and sending troops to 
Afghanistan and not paying for a penny of it. That also results in 
Federal budget deficits, and we have to resolve them.
  The fact is, we cannot continue to describe a level of government the 
American people are unwilling or unable to pay for, and we have to get 
this fiscal policy under some control. Republicans and Democrats 
together are going to have to reconcile this. We must do it.

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