[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 59 (Thursday, March 30, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4837-S4838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET

  Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, the President was in my State and city 
yesterday in what was promoted as an economic summit. I think one could 
take some question with that definition, but we will let that stand.
  The day before that, I had an opportunity to come to the Senate floor 
and to discuss findings of the bipartisan entitlements commission. I 
specifically referred to one piece of data that just stares at you from 
that report. It should make every American somber and humble. Because 
what it essentially says is that within 10 years--historically that is 
a snap of the finger, Mr. President--within 10 years, all of our U.S. 
revenues, all of it, are consumed by 5 things; 5 expenditures, 5 out of 
1,000--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Federal retirement, and the 
interest on our debt, and then there is nothing left. There is nothing 
for the School Lunch Program that we are pointing fingers at each other 
about. There is not a Defense Department, a road, a canal, a port 
widening, an Education Department, an agricultural bill, nothing.
  Mr. President, this is a calamity that this generation of Americans 
must confront. I said that it was, in my judgment, a calling so 
extraordinary to put it in the league of the Founders of the Nation--
the fight to keep the Nation united, the fight in Europe. It is of that 
consequence.
  When I hear the President and his administration suggesting that we 
do not have a problem, I am stunned and appalled--stunned and appalled. 
To be moving across the country suggesting that everything is a tulip 
patch, to bring a budget, in the face of the balanced budget amendment 
and the bipartisan entitlements commission, and to give us a budget 
that adds $1.4 trillion to the debt, $200 billion in deficits for as 
far as the eye can see, shows either a total disconnect with what is 
happening in the country or contempt.
  Mr. President, Secretary Rubin said:

       Another way to look at this is that, without the interest 
     the Federal Government pays on the national debt, the Federal 
     budget would now be running a small surplus.

  That is like saying, arsenic is OK, if it was not poisonous.
  Mr. President, I am told that the President himself, speaking to 
students at Emory University, said the same thing--that we are really 
running a surplus here.
  [[Page S4838]] Outside of being patently wrong, it is exceedingly 
damaging for these kinds of messages, in the face of what we are 
confronting as a people and a nation. That would be like, instead of 
saying to the Nation, as President Roosevelt did, that this day will 
live in infamy and charging the Nation for what it had to do--which was 
not a very pretty picture--to have traveled around the country and 
saying the world is in pretty good shape, those fellows are really nice 
guys.
  You are robbing the people of the will that is going to be required 
to meet this test when you tell them things like this--we are actually 
running a surplus, if it were not for the debt.
  And while they are saying this, they have already added $1 trillion 
in new debt or increased it by 20 percent. The incongruities of this 
message are befuddling.
  But the real damage is if it misleads the American people.
  I will give the other side this. We can argue about what priorities 
are. The priorities that I might feel important may be different from 
those of the Senator from Minnesota, who was on the floor the other 
morning while we were talking about these issues of debt. We can argue 
about what we believe more important or less important. But it is not 
debatable that the United States is expending moneys it does not have. 
We are piling debt upon debt. We have spent every dime we have and $5 
trillion we do not have, and now we are spending the livelihood of our 
children and grandchildren and the clock is running out, Mr. President.
  Everybody can contemplate 10 years from now. You are either moving 
into retirement or your children are about ready to go to college or 
they are looking for a job. They would be staring down the barrel of 
this great democracy having no revenues left to do anything. That is a 
serious problem. And it is going to take a serious response. The 
administration needs to recognize that. They seem to be in denial, 
sending budgets that accelerate the problem, saying things such as 
Secretary Rubin has just said here. This is what the President said 
before Emory University students yesterday, March 29: ``After two years 
we have a reduction in the deficit of $600 billion for the first 
time''--much applause, and they would--``this is the first time since 
the mid-sixties when your Government is running at least an operating 
surplus.''
  An operating surplus, Mr. President? This is just staggering and 
stunning. So like I said, Mr. President, we have an enormous problem. 
The clock has run out. It has run out. We cannot pass this baton to 
anybody else. The living Americans, the caretakers of this great 
democracy, have it in their lap. We must confront it. We cannot ignore 
it. And worse, to mislead is so damaging, so harmful, because it is 
taking the will away. Everybody would much rather hear a rosy story.
  I want to say, in conclusion, that my message is not one of gloom. We 
can turn this around. We can tighten our belts fairly. We can remove 
the obstacles to an expanding economy. That means get the taxes down, 
Mr. President, get Government regulation down.
  If your prescription for America is to raise taxes, make more 
Government, and regulate our lives, and in the meantime, tell them 
messages like this, there is going to be a very serious day of 
reckoning, a very serious day of reckoning.
  Mr. President, I invite the President to an economic debate. I can 
suggest to him that the empirical evidence is, through all of time, you 
have to keep taxes down, government down, regulations down, and let 
people go to work. That is the way to get out of this problem. You do 
not get there by suggesting to people, in the face of everything, we 
know that we are running an operating surplus. I yield the floor in 
total befuddlement.
  Mr. COHEN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine is recognized.
  (The remarks of Mr. Cohen and Mr. D'Amato pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 648 are located in today's Record under ``Statements 
on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I have 10 
minutes instead of the previous 5 minutes for morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Lott pertaining to the introduction of S. 647 are 
located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and 
Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 15 
minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has that time in the previous 
order.
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

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