[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 84 (Friday, May 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6963-S6964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the concurrent 
resolution.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may use 5 
minutes of my leader's time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, first let me quote from what I consider to 
be a fairly reliable source.

       The budget which came from the President said, ``I've given 
     up; that as long as I am President of the United States there 
     will never be a balanced budget.'' That is an astonishing 
     statement.

  That quote came from former Senator Paul Tsongas, Democrat of 
Massachusetts, cochairman of the bipartisan antideficit Concord 
Coalition.
  Another quote from our former colleague, Senator Tsongas:

       Let me say as a Democrat it's very easy for Democrats to 
     poke fun at what these two people [Senator Pete Domenici and 
     Representative John Kasich] are doing because, unlike our 
     party, they've decided to really address this issue. And the 
     fact is, they're prepared to put a balanced budget amendment 
     on the table. The balanced budget amendment died because of 
     the Democrats--not because of the Republicans, not because of 
     the vote in the Senate, and we Democrats are equally 
     responsible to our kids.

  That was not a statement by Bob Dole or anybody on this side of the 
aisle. That was a statement by Senator Paul Tsongas, who used to grace 
the Senate Chamber. He was seated on the other side of the aisle. I 
think he speaks volumes in just these two statements.
  Along with Senator Domenici, I was on the House floor yesterday for 
that historic vote when they adopted the resolution that will put us on 
a path for a balanced budget by the year 2002.
  It was a very exciting moment, and we hope to repeat that moment in 
the Senate sometime in the early afternoon next Wednesday.
  We will be here late, late, late Monday night and late, late, late 
Tuesday night, so we can finish sometime midafternoon on Wednesday.
  After the vote in the House yesterday, the President issued a 
statement, saying, ``There is a right way and a wrong way'' to reduce 
the deficit, and the House plan was ``The wrong way.''
  Americans have a right to ask, if the House plan was the ``wrong 
way'' and if the Senate budget resolution is the ``wrong way,'' then 
just what does President Clinton define as the ``right way'' to reduce 
the deficit?
  He would not even let us save $10 billion in the rescission package. 
He threatened to veto that because it does not meet his standards of 
higher spending.
  Well, the only evidence we have of what he believes is the right way 
is what he proposed, and that is the question now before us.
  As Senator Domenici said, he asked if any Democrats wished to offer 
the President's budget as an amendment and they declined, so he did it 
to make a point. The point is the President does not have a plan, a 
credible plan. And the point is, the Democrats do not have a credible 
plan.
  Their plan is to attack Republicans, attack Republicans, attack 
Republicans--we are out there cutting Medicare; cutting everything to 
help the rich. That effort has been tried for years. It is called class 
warfare. It was tried in 1994--and we liked the results. And maybe it 
will be tried again in 1996.
  I assume the President was serious about his budget plan when he 
proposed it. We learned a number of things about what the President 
apparently believes is ``right.''
  The President believes that, as Senator Tsongas said, the status quo 
is right.
  The President believes it is right to take no action and let the 
deficit continue, $200 billion a year as far as the eye can see, well 
into the next century.
  The President believes it is right to allow entitlement spending to 
consume 57 percent of total spending by the year 2000.
  The President believes it is right to ignore his own trustees' 
warning of the impending bankruptcy of the Medicare Trust Fund, and to 
take absolutely no action to preserve, improve, and protect Medicare.
  And, Mr. President, I have a suspicion of something else the 
President has proven he believes is right. He said 
[[Page S6964]] yesterday he is ``Eager to work with Congress'' to 
reduce the deficit, and since his budget refused to do that by reducing 
the growth of Government spending, that can leave only one possible 
answer: Tax increases; tax increases.
  Are we going to be told by the President, ``Well, we have to balance 
the budget. This is the wrong way. The right way is to do what I did in 
1993, have a big, big $255 billion tax increase''? I have not heard any 
other options. We have to conclude something.
  The only conclusion I can reach is the President does not want to 
balance the budget, does not want to cut spending, does not want to 
preserve, protect and improve Medicare. So it seems to me we have been 
waiting now 11 days since we proposed our balanced budget plan. We have 
not heard a word from anybody on the other side of the aisle. We have 
not heard a word from the President, and the deficit has increased $4.9 
billion since we submitted our balanced budget plan.
  Is our plan perfect? No, but it is an honest effort to transform 
Government to make it smaller, to make it smarter, to make it more 
sensitive, to make it more responsive, to make it less expensive and to 
reverse the 40-year tide of power to the Federal Government.
  Let me say, we look forward to next week. I guess you could say we 
are prepared to make the tough decisions, the President will not make 
any decision. That is a clear difference in party philosophy: Do not 
make any decisions, come to the floor and complain about what happens 
to senior citizens, children, veterans, farmers and everybody else, but 
do not worry about the next generation, do not worry about your 
grandchildren, do not worry about your young children. It will all be 
taken care of by red ink, as the Senator from Maine, Senator Snowe, 
just pointed out.
  It seems to me that if we want status quo policies, I guess we can 
have those, if the Democrats prevail. But what we need to do right now 
is defeat the President's budget and then have serious debate on the 
balanced budget proposed by the distinguished Senator from New Mexico, 
Senator Domenici. It is not because it is good political theater, as 
some have suggested, but I think it is time to do the right thing.
  I think the President, in his inaugural address, used the word 
``change'' 11 times. Apparently he is out of change. He does not want 
any more change. He wants the status quo: ``Do not cut farm subsidies, 
do not do this, do not do that, do not cut anything until after I am 
reelected in 1996.''
  I do not believe that will sell. I believe the American people are 
ready--they have been ready for leadership on the budget. We have had a 
lot of leadership on the other side over the years on the budget, and I 
am still hopeful we will still have leadership on the other side on the 
deficit.
  We ought to be in this together. But this is the first step. This is 
the first vote. This is a defining vote, and I urge my colleagues to 
vote against the President's budget.
  I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.

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