[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 65 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5532-S5533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    SENATE VOTES $16 BILLION IN CUTS

  Mr. BENNETT. Now, Madam President, I rise this morning to talk about 
what happened in this Chamber last night.
  I am interested in the fact that neither the Washington Post nor the 
New York Times--the paper that considers itself the paper of record in 
the United States--took proper notice of what happened here last night.
  I would like to correct that and talk about it for just a minute. I 
have here a copy of the Washington Times, the upstart newspaper, and it 
says in the headline ``Senate Votes 99 to 0 for $16 Billion in Cuts.''
  Now, Madam President, we were here 2 years ago, when the Senate was 
fighting about $16 billion--interesting symmetry in numbers--for a 
stimulus package which we were told was absolutely essential to get the 
economy on its feet. Indeed, we were told on this floor that if we did 
not pass this stimulus package of $16 billion in increased spending, 
the economy would collapse, people would be out of work, everything 
would fall apart.
  We Republicans opposed the stimulus package. We did not have enough 
votes to defeat it, but we had enough votes to prevent cloture, and we 
kept talking about it and ultimately it was taken down.
  That is, for those who do not understand the language of this place, 
``taken down'' means that the majority leader removed it from the floor 
and it was left for dead.
  We were told at that time, we have dealt the economy a serious blow. 
Indeed, that stimulus package was an appropriations bill referred to as 
``an emergency.'' It was an emergency appropriations bill, the 
advantage of that being that it did not have to come under the budget 
requirements.
  You see, we have budget caps here and they say this is what is 
required. But if you have an emergency appropriation, that goes above 
the budget caps. We had this $16 billion stimulus emergency before us 
and promises of all kinds of dire disastrous events that would occur if 
we did not pass it. We did not pass it. The disastrous events did not 
come to pass. And then, in this Congress, to show the difference, we 
had a bill on the floor, a rescission bill--meaning we were cutting out 
of the present fiscal year's activities $16 billion. In business terms 
this is a $32 billion turnaround.
  While we were debating these $16 billion in rescissions, in cuts, we 
were told, again on this floor: Disaster. If you make those cuts you 
will be throwing children out into the snow. If you make those cuts you 
will be trying to balance the budget on the backs of those people least 
equipped to handle it. We were told how terrible that would be. And we 
persisted. We stood firm.
  When I came on the floor last night to vote I expected the vote on 
this bill 
 [[Page S5533]] to be as close, if you will, as the vote on the 
stimulus package was, because we had heard all these terrible things. 
Then, when the vote started to come in, I was stunned to hear the 
people who were voting for these $16 billion in cuts. I thought maybe I 
am on the wrong side. Maybe this is a motion to table, because I am 
going to vote for this. But the other kinds of Senators, who are voting 
for it, are not the ones I expected to be for these cuts, having heard 
all this rhetoric. But I looked around--no, everybody was voting for 
it. As the headline says in this morning's paper, ``Senate Votes 99 to 
Zero for $16 Billion in Cuts.''
  That demonstrates the change that has occurred in just 2 years. We 
have gone from $16 billion in a stimulus package that we had to have or 
the economy would collapse, bitterly fought over, highly partisan, 
narrow vote--to a unanimous vote in the Senate that says $16 billion 
can come out of the current fiscal year's activities without hurting 
the economy. Indeed, I would suggest, it would help the economy.
  So I am delighted to have been 1 of the 99 that voted for those cuts. 
I am delighted to welcome the new converts to the side of those of us 
who believe that the Government can survive, that we can downsize the 
bureaucracy, that we can get some progress toward bringing our fiscal 
affairs in order, regardless of the rhetoric that has gone around.

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