[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 4, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           A CONTRACT ON AMERICA, NOT A CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

  (Mr. BECERRA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I think all of us are pleased to finally 
find out some of the things that the Republicans want to do, and not 
just find out about what the party does not want to do. However, I must 
tell the Members that in this contract with America we have nothing but 
questions to ask.
  They talk about reducing taxes, they talk about increasing defense 
spending, and with all that, they are going to balance the budget. That 
was something that was tried during the 1980's under Reagan economics 
and America got enough of that. All we got was debt.
  In fact, we got so much debt that in the 12 years under Presidents 
Reagan and Bush we tripled the size of the national debt. Two 
Presidents did in 12 years what 200 years of Presidents could not do 
before them: That was triple the national debt to $4 trillion.
  So how are the Republicans this year planning to pay for their 
contract on America? They must tell us. They must also tell us why they 
are pushing for term limits when, if they were really serious about it, 
not one member of the Republican leadership would still be in this 
House, because they have all served much longer than those term limits 
would allow.
  The Republicans should tell us how they will do those things. This is 
not a contract with America, I think it is more a contract on America.

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