[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 134 (Thursday, September 22, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                GOVERNMENT CANNOT SOLVE ALL OUR PROBLEMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, almost everyone, from President Clinton to 
Dan Quayle, is speaking out today about the breakdown of the American 
family.
  Almost everyone is greatly concerned, and with good reason.
  The overwhelming percentage of felony crimes are committed by young 
men who were raised in father-absent households.
  Almost one-third of all births now are out of wedlock. I could go on 
and on, but most people know all the horrible statistics.
  Even liberals are today admitting that our society is decaying from 
within.
  Listen to these words from a recent editorial by Mortimer B. 
Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report:

       The fraying of America's social fabric is fast becoming a 
     national obsession. Three out of every four Americans think 
     we are in moral and spiritual decline. Two out of three think 
     the country is seriously off track. Doubts about the 
     president's character have driven his standing in the polls 
     down about 15 points. Social dysfunction haunts the land: 
     crime and drug abuse, the breakup of the family, the slump in 
     academic performance, the disfigurement of public places by 
     druggies, thugs and exhibitionists. Are we now, to use 
     Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's phrase, `defining deviancy 
     down,' accepting as part of life what we once found 
     repugnant? * * *
       * * * Instead of a culture of common good, we have a 
     culture of constant complaint, Everyone is a victim * * *
       * * * Gone are the habits America once admired: 
     industriousness, thrift, self-discipline, commitment.
       * * * The combined effect of these sicknesses, rooted in 
     phony doctrines of liberalism, has been to tax the nation's 
     optimism and sap its confidence in the future. And it is the 
     young who are strikingly vulnerable. They are being 
     deprived--like no previous generation--of the emotional 
     comfort and moral nurturing provided by the traditional 
     family * * *

  As Zuckerman said, most of these problems have been caused, or at 
least made worse by the ``phony doctrines of liberalism.''
  These problems have come about in large part because for at least the 
last 30 years, every time there has been even the slightest problem of 
any type, liberals have insisted that the only solution was the 
Government.
  However, now I believe there is a sizable majority of the people who 
no longer believe that the Government can solve all of our problems.
  And, going beyond that, many people now feel that particularly the 
Federal Government is so wasteful and inefficient that it causes more 
problems than it solves.
  I believe that this is also true in regard to the breakdown of the 
family.
  Most divorces occur because of arguments that tie back into money or 
family finances.
  Government, at all levels today, takes about half of the average 
person's income when you count taxes of all types, Federal, State, and 
local.
  We are simply not leaving the families of America enough money to 
support themselves in the way they want or to which they should be 
entitled.
  It used to be different. In 1948, the exemption for children on 
Federal tax returns was $600. According to the Heritage Foundation, if 
that had been indexed for inflation, the amount would be almost $8,000 
today.
  In other words, in the late 1940's and 1950's, the Government, 
through its low taxes and high deductions for children, was encouraging 
families.
  Once Government and taxes started exploding in the mid-1960's, the 
breakup of our families also began exploding.
  I am not saying Government is the only cause, but I do believe it is 
the most significant one.
  I also believe that if we really want to help strengthen the family, 
the best thing we can do is to greatly downsize Government, at all 
levels, and greatly decrease its cost.
  The individuals and families of America know much better how to spend 
their own money than the bureaucrats in Washington do.
  We should really do something for our children--we should take so 
much money away from them and their families just so we can give it to 
Federal bureaucrats.
  Yet despite all the lipservice we are still passing bill after bill 
that causes government spending to go up at all levels.
  If we do not get this under control soon, these words of former 
Senator Paul Tsongas, written recently in the Christian Science 
Monitor, may come back to haunt us:

       If you think sending a chunk of your hard-earned income to 
     the Internal Revenue Service was tough this year, imagine the 
     responses of future taxpayers who will face average lifetime 
     tax rates of an incredible 82%.
       Confronted with the burdens of a monstrous national debt, 
     an aging population, and runaway federal entitlement 
     programs, tomorrow's Americans will be turned into a 
     generation of indentured servants. They won't stand for it. 
     Without action today, we are likely to see generational 
     political wars by the end of the decade.

  Mr. Speaker, we need bold, decisive action and we need it now.

          Just When You Thought the Deficit Was Under Control

                  (By Paul Tsongas and Jonathan Karl)

       If you think sending a chunk of your hard-earned income to 
     the Internal Revenue Service was tough this year, imagine the 
     responses of future taxpayers who will face average lifetime 
     tax rates of an incredible 82 percent.
       Confronted with the burdens of a monstrous national debt, 
     an aging population, and runaway federal entitlement 
     programs, tomorrow's Americans will be turned into a 
     generation of indentured servants. They won't stand for it. 
     Without action today, we are likely to see generational 
     political wars by the end of the decade.
       It's a mess created by bipartisan fiscal irresponsibility 
     in Washington. And far from addressing the problem, the 
     politicians are insisting the deficit is ``last year's 
     issue.''
       The bad news can be found buried deep within President 
     Clinton's 2,000-page, four-volume budget for 1995, which was 
     recently passed by Congress.
       A little-noticed section of Mr. Clinton's budget, entitled 
     ``Generational Accounting,'' looks at what each generation 
     can expect to pay in average net lifetime tax rates--that's 
     taxes paid minus direct benefits (such as Social Security, 
     Medicare, farm subsidies, and home mortgage deductions) 
     received.
       Generational accounting tells a startling story. Americans 
     born in 1900 faced an average lifetime tax rate of 23.6 
     percent over the course of their working lives. Americans 
     born in 1940 face an average rate of 31.9 percent. For those 
     born in 1970, the average lifetime tax rate climbs to 36.5 
     percent.
       Economist Laurence Kotlikoff, who helps the federal 
     government devise the generational accounting section of the 
     budget, says that the first group to feel the squeeze will be 
     the baby-boom generation, those born between 1941 and 1961.
       But the worst economic news is for Americans born after 
     1992. Forced to pay the bills we refuse to pay today, they 
     will face an average net tax rate of 82 percent.
       The message is clear: We are bankrupting future 
     generations. If we continue the present course, the America 
     of the 21st century will be unable to compete and be 
     productive. And our children will be the ones to suffer.
       Stopping the flow of red ink in Washington must become the 
     top priority. It's time to stop invoicing future generations 
     for today's spending sprees. It's time to do the unthinkable: 
     balance the federal budget by the end of the century.
       Far from balancing the budget, the Congressional Budget 
     Office calculates that between now and the year 2000 we will 
     add almost $1.2 trillion to our national debt, which 
     currently totals $4.6 trillion. Clinton's budget leaves a 
     projected deficit of $227.8 billion for fiscal year 1994. In 
     1996 the deficit will drop to $179.6 billion before 
     climbing again. We have no strategy for eliminating the 
     deficit. We must do better.
       The Concord Coalition has outlined a plan for a balanced 
     budget by the year 2000. The coalition's zero-deficit plan 
     balances the budget by making the tough choices many 
     politicians are unwilling to make.
       The centerpiece of the plan is a proposal to control the 
     growth of federal entitlement programs, which constitute more 
     than half of the budget and are the primary cause of the 
     deficit. The plan proposes applying a means test to 
     entitlement benefits for those families who receive 
     government payouts in the form of Social Security, Medicare, 
     farm subsidies, and government pensions and have an annual 
     income of more than $40,000. The precise reduction would 
     depend upon each family's income, and no one would be denied 
     all their benefits regardless of income level.
       The plan also cuts wasteful, inefficient, or obsolete 
     discretionary programs, and increases revenues through higher 
     taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and gasoline.
       Agreeing with the specifics of the Concord Coalition's plan 
     is less important than agreeing on the goal: a balanced 
     budget by the year 2000. Those who disagree with the 
     specifics need only develop an alternative.
       However, the data outlined in the generational accounting 
     section of the Clinton budget makes it clear that the current 
     policies are unacceptable. This information should serve as a 
     wake-up call to all Americans. Future generations will be in 
     crisis. It's time for action.

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