Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, this year we will have a large tax cut. We will have a large tax cut that provides tax relief to every taxpayer, that addresses estate and marriage penalties as well. That we know for a certainty. The question, of course, of how large and who will be the primary beneficiaries is as yet undetermined, but we know that we will have the largest tax cut that we can afford.
Will we have a solvent Social Security system? Will we have Medicare with a prescription drug benefit? Will we have an adequate educational system? Will we pay down the national debt? These questions we do not have an answer for. Now, why is that? Why is that that we can say with absolute certainty right now we can have a massive tax cut but we cannot say whether Social Security will continue? We cannot say whether Medicare will be solvent? What does this say about our priorities as a nation? It says we do not put Social Security first. We do not put Medicare first. We do not put the needs of our children first.
Now, why is this? Why are we going forward with no budget? Why are we going forward with a bill that could have a major impact in this country for 25 years with no budget? Why is it so important that we act on this right now? Well, the argument that is made is that we need to spur the economy right now. Well, let us set aside the fact that even Alan Greenspan says that the use of fiscal policy in the form of tax cuts does little to affect the immediate condition of the economy. Let us say that we agreed with that philosophy. Why does that mean that we take action on a bill right now that will affect us in 5 to 10 years? If we are concerned about spurring the economy now, let us do something to spur the economy now. Let us not make a decision about expenditures 5 to 10 years from now that will have no effect on today's economy.
No, we are taking action right now on a bill that will have an effect on the next generation. We are doing it without a budget in place. We are doing it on the basis of projections we know are incredibly speculative. We are doing it at a time where the interest on the debt we pay every day is a billion dollars; a billion dollars a day we pay in interest on the national debt.
No, we are going to ignore the promises both parties made during the last campaign of paying off the debt by 2012 or 2013. That is out the window. We are going to ignore the promises made by both parties during the campaign of providing prescription drug benefits to seniors. We are going to ignore our promises to set aside Social Security and Medicare. No, we are going to pass this bill right now and then we are going to worry later to see if we can afford it.
Now I am just a freshman in this institution, but even a freshman can see this is no way to budget for a nation or a family. In families across America, people have very basic principles: Pay your bills; live within your means; provide for your family's future; provide for your country's future. This process does not meet that very basic standard.
Let us have a budget first. Let us have a budget that we can be proud of, not only today, tomorrow and this year. Let us have a budget that we can be proud of 10 or 20 years from now, because what we are doing this week, make no mistake, will affect this country for the next quarter of a century. I do not want to look back on my period in Congress and say that one of the first acts that we did when I entered the Congress was something that set this country back on the path of deficit spending, increased national debt, that we did the fiscally irresponsible thing. Let us have a budget first.