[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 83 (Thursday, May 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6852-S6853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      BALANCING THE FEDERAL BUDGET

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, first of all, I thank the Senator from 
Nevada for responding to questions. I would like to make an 
observation.
  I had the occasion to be sitting in the chair for the past hour 
before the current occupant of the chair, and I listened to the 
discussion that took place in the Chamber. It occurred to me that maybe 
some people for the first time realize how truly difficult it is to 
balance the budget.
  I had an occasion last night to see on C-SPAN the Democratic whip in 
the House of Representatives standing up and talking and stating over 
and over and over again that they are requesting reductions in taxes 
for the very wealthy people and that those reductions in taxes will be 
paid by what has always been referred to as the working people. And I 
have always found that to be a little offensive. It is kind of implying 
that other people are not working. I think it is a very clever way to 
state it because everyone identifies with that.
  But we are at a defining moment right now. There was truly a 
revolution that took place on November 8, 1994, and everyone agrees 
with this. I know there are others who do not like the way it turned 
out, but the conservatives did, in fact, win.
  And while there is a lot of confusion over this as to how it must be 
done, the message that came in November 1994 was: ``We demand change. 
We don't want the status quo.''
  Now we are seeing the defenders of the status quo on this floor 
talking about, ``Well, we can't do this. We can't have a balanced 
budget amendment to the Constitution. We can't adopt the budget as 
proposed by the Republicans because it might incur a hardship on some 
of the people in this country.''
  I would suggest, first of all, that we make it abundantly clear that 
the budget that is going to be proposed in both the other body and in 
this body does not have a cut in Medicare. As a matter of fact, it adds 
a bit in growth in Medicare. That growth is somewhere around 7.1 
percent.
  The President had a report from his trustees on Medicare. There are 
six of them. He appointed them. We are talking about people like Donna 
Shalala and people like the other Cabinet members. They reported to the 
President of the United States that if we do not do something about 
Medicare, Medicare will start into a deficit in the fiscal year of 1997 
and will be broke, bankrupt, in the year 2002.
  Now, there are a lot of people watching right now who, like me, will 
reach the age of 65 by the year 2002, and they have to understand that 
this is not a Republican suggestion or study that has developed the 
conclusion that it will go broke by the year 2002. These are the 
trustees of the Medicare system that were appointed by the President.
  Now what has the President done since then? Where is the President? 
He has not even responded to that. And yet, he is adhering to his 
budget. Only yesterday, he announced he was going to veto the 
rescissions bill, which was a reduction in spending of $16.4 billion, 
the largest single reduction, I believe, in the history of this 
country. He says he is going to veto this reduction, the spending 
reductions.
  I think it is just inconceivable that someone who ran for office on 
reducing spending, someone who ran on a balanced budget for this 
country, would now come up and say, in this fiscal year of 1995, the 
rescissions bill that has been proposed and that was passed by a 
majority of votes in the House and the Senate will be vetoed by the 
President of the United States.
  I also think it is necessary for us to reaffirm our commitment to 
children. I hear over and over again about this program is going to be 
cut, or that program is going to be cut.
  Yes, some programs are going to be cut and there are going to be some 
hardships if we do successfully balance the budget by the year 2002. 
But we cannot stand up here on the floor, as the Senator from Nevada 
did a few moments ago, and talk about the fact that every Senator, 
every one of the 100 Senators here in the U.S. Senate, wants to have a 
balanced budget by the year 2002 and not do anything today to bring it 
about.
  You know, this is an exciting time. Right now, this week, we are 
going to be debating, and next week we probably will have a vote in 
both bodies on a budget that will eliminate the deficit by the year 
2002.
  I heard Congressman DeLay talk about the fact that he has been 
waiting his entire life for this moment to come. And all of those who 
voted for a major change on November 8, 1994, this is the change. Of 
all the things that that mandate said to Congress from the American 
people, it said we want less Government intrusion in our lives. It said 
that we want to do something about keeping America strong in its 
defense. But, first and foremost, it said, we want to balance the 
budget.
  I had an experience the other day when we had our National Prayer 
Breakfast. When I left the House, I was president of the House Prayer 
Breakfast, so I was kind of in charge, I say to the Senator, of the 
international visitors.
  There was a gentleman who came into our National Prayer Breakfast 
from Moldavia. He was beaming from ear to ear. He came up to me and he 
said, ``Senator, we are so proud. We now have a free economy. We have 
been under communism for all these years, now we have democracy. But I 
have a question to ask you. In America, how much can you keep?"
  And I said, ``I'm sorry, I don't think I understand your question.'' 
He said, ``In America, how much does the Government take from you?"
  Then I understood what he was saying, and so I gave him a figure that 
I would hate to have to stand here and try to justify.
  But he said, very proudly, ``In Moldavia, when we go out and we earn 
a dollar, we get to keep 20 cents.''
  They have some kind of a periodic collection. At the end of every 
month, they have to give 80 cents out of every dollar they earn to the 
Government. He was so proud they had reached that point.
  I thought how fortunate we are in this country, until I realized and 
looked at the picture of my two grandchildren. And the CBO, and others 
in every study, no one has disagreed, said that if we do not do 
something to change the trend in this country of deficit spending, that 
anyone who is born today will have to spend 82 percent of his or her 
lifetime income to support the Government. And that is worse off than 
they are in Moldavia.
  So I would just caution you, Mr. President, and others who may hear 
the stories of the bleeding hearts talking about all these Government 
programs that are going to be cut, to stop and realize, in most cases, 
that is not true at all. It is not the case of Social Security, it is 
not the case of Medicare, it is not the case of Medicaid.
  And if, in fact, we could actually put a growth cap on Government, as 
I think one amendment by Senator Gramm is going to attempt to do, of 
3.2 [[Page S6853]] percent, we end up balancing the budget without 
cutting one Federal program and without reducing one Federal program by 
merely putting caps on.
  So I think we have to ask ourselves a question, Mr. President, not 
should we do this this week or next week, but what happens if we do 
not. Are we going to have another opportunity in the U.S. Senate or the 
other body to actually come up with a balanced budget? And we have to 
ask the question: Where will our children be if we do not vote 
properly?
  I know there are well-meaning people on the other side of this. They 
say we want a balanced budget, they want to do something by the year 
2002. I would like to do it sooner. Most of us would. But talking is 
one thing and doing is another thing.
  It is not going to be easy, but I suggest to you, Mr. President--I 
know that my time is up and morning business up--I suggest to you, if 
we do not do it this time, we will probably not be able to do it in our 
lifetimes.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.

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