Conrad: I hated deal avoiding 'fiscal cliff' because wasn't a deficit-reduction plan

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) in his last speech on the Senate floor said that despite voting for it, he hated the plan to avoid the "fiscal cliff."

“I told our colleagues on that night that I believed we had to support that deal,” Conrad said on the floor Wednesday. “At the same time I told my colleagues that I hate this agreement with every fiber of my being ... because it was not the grand bargain we needed for deficit reduction.”

Conrad cited the Congressional Office Budget report that said the plan passed by Congress on Tuesday added $4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that was a deficit-reduction plan,” Conrad said. “It is critically important that the next Congress in its early days get back to doing to grand bargain, the big deal.”

Conrad called on his colleagues to keep fighting for deficit reduction in the next Congress, which starts Thursday.

Conrad called for reform on entitlements and ending tax expenditures as a balanced way to reduce the deficit.

“My greatest regret in leaving here is that we have not been able to fashion a grand bargain deal before I have left,” Conrad said.

Conrad is retiring after years of service on the Senate Budget Committee.

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