CBO Report

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, on the CBO report.

Today CBO came out with a report that revised its projections of the deficit, saying they have ``increased markedly'' since the Republican tax bill added about $1.9 trillion to the deficit. By 2020, the annual deficit will surpass $1 trillion.

It is a reminder of just how wrong the predictions were that the Republican tax bill would somehow pay for itself. It is also a reminder of how unconcerned the current Republican Party is about deficits.

When it comes to tax cuts for big corporations and the rich, deficits are no impediment, but now that these tax cuts are in place, I predict that deficits will once again morph into a dire problem, a scourge on the Nation, an excuse for Republicans to target Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

That has been the playbook since the Bush era: explode the deficit with tax cuts for the rich and powerful, then use the deficit they created as a reason to cut Social Security and Medicare.

Lo and behold, this week the majority in the House will vote on a balanced budget amendment--a way for Republicans to force cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security. It is hard to believe they can say it with a straight face, but we will hear Republican Members say this week that Washington needs to get its fiscal House in order, only a few months after they added $1.5 trillion to the deficit by tax cuts that mainly benefited the wealthy and the powerful. It is the height of hypocrisy.

The American people deserve better than this patronizing Kabuki theater. They deserve a Congress squarely focused on helping the middle class, not the powerful, not the special interests, not those at the very top of the economic ladder. So far, this Republican Congress has shown it is not up to the job, and every day more and more Americans realize that.

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