Kent Conrad Deficit Quotations

Social Security has not contributed to the deficit problem.

No one should believe that this vote is about deficit reduction. By insisting on another $70 billion of tax cuts ... the deficit actually goes up.

While this year's deficit will be lower than last year's record shortfall, the improvement is likely to be short-lived. Declarations of victory over budget deficits only distract from the disturbing long-term budget outlook,

As the news this morning of increased joblessness and earlier reports of exploding deficit and debt reveal, the president's economic policy is a disaster. Obviously, the secretary of the treasury and Mr. Lindsey are being sacrificed to protect the president. Sadly, the removal of these economic officials will do nothing if they are simply replaced with yes-men committed to the president's relentlessly partisan agenda of pushing tax cuts at the expense of all else.

If people saw how big the deficit really is, they'd feel more of a need to do something about it.

The Congressional Budget Office tells us by 2052, Social Security could meet only 78 percent of its obligations. Medicare is in even worse shape. The shortfall in Medicare is eight times the deficit in Social Security. But the president has no plan to deal with that. The truth is, we need to confront all these challenges sooner rather than later.