[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 23, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7243-S7244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             PROMISES KEPT

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from 
Tennessee, a new Member of the Senate, for helping us with this debate, 
for helping us point out the important decisions that we are making 
today and tomorrow.
  It has really been wonderful to see the freshmen Senators, the new 
Senators, like the Senator from Tennessee and like the Senator in the 
chair, tonight adding to the debate and adding to the energy and 
vitality of the changes that we are making for America, the changes 
that the people asked for in 1994 so forcefully by giving a mandate to 
Congress to do the right thing, to keep the promises that were made.
  The American people have seen time after time after time politicians 
making great speeches, beautiful speeches at conventions and big events 
and rallies and they see them make the promises and they see the 
promises broken almost the day after the election. Now, for the first 
time in years, the American people are going to see the promises being 
kept.
  I think you are seeing such clear differences between the leadership 
that the President has shown versus the leadership that the Members of 
Congress are showing now finally.
  The President's theme has been balance the budget on the backs of the 
Medicare recipients and the welfare recipients and education. That is 
the theme that we see recurring on the floor of the Senate day after 
day after day after day--the class warfare: ``Oh, yes, they are 
balancing the budget, but they are doing it at the expense of the 
people in our society who are receiving Medicare and welfare.''
  That is all we have heard. Where is their plan? Where is their 
suggestion? As the Senator from Pennsylvania said earlier tonight, 
their Chief of Staff has said, ``It's a big game of chicken. If you put 
your budget out there and we're going to slash it to ribbons. If we put 
our budget out there, you are going to slash ours to ribbons.'' So who 
goes first?
  Mr. President, the Republicans are going first. We are putting 
something on the table that makes sense. We are taking the bold step 
and we are protecting Medicare for the future, and we are going to have 
a welfare system that tries to bring people up, not hold them down for 
generation after generation, and to give the taxpayers of our country 
the opportunity to see that it does not pay not to work if you can.
  So, Mr. President, where is the President of the United States in 
this debate? He gave a budget to the Congress. We voted on it. It was 
the first vote we took in this budget debate. It was a budget which 
would increase the Federal deficit from $203 billion in 1994 to $276 
billion in the year 2000. In fact, the Clinton budget, submitted to 
this Congress, called for another $1.2 trillion in deficit spending 
over the next 5 years.
  That is the budget he has presented until yesterday. And yesterday 
the President said, ``I'm going to give you a balanced budget.'' We are 
4 days into the budget debate and the President says, ``I'm going to 
give you a balanced budget.'' Where was he in the first year of his 
term? Where was he in the second year of his term? And where was he 
when we started the hearings in the Budget Committee when Senator 
Domenici was trying for a consensus, trying to bring everyone into the 
process, where was the President then? Where is the alternative now? 
There is no alternative except the one on the table that the Budget 
Committee has put forward which will balance the budget of this country 
by the year 2002.
  It is the budget that is going to protect Medicare for our future 
generations. It is the budget resolution that says to our children, we 
are not going to turn our backs on you.
  Finally, we have drawn the line in the sand, and we are going to do 
what is right for this country. This is, indeed, a moment in history. 
Tomorrow, we are going to make history in America. The other body is 
going to do what the House of Representatives did last week, and we are 
going to keep our promise to the American people.
  Do all of us like everything in the budget? Absolutely not. There is 
probably not one Member of the Senate that says this is a perfect 
budget. Not even Senator Domenici likes everything in this budget that 
he worked so hard to bring out of that committee with the strong vote 
that he did. In fact, today I voted to change the budget, to give more 
to national defense because I am so worried that we are shortchanging 
our national defense in this country, and I wanted to try to change the 
priorities.
  Other people have been offering amendments to add to education. 
Others have offered amendments to add to Medicare funding. Others have 
offered amendments for all different things that they think should be a 
priority.
  But, Mr. President, this is a good, solid, balanced budget.
  It is a balanced budget in the sense that, of course, it is going to 
take away deficits after 7 years. But it is a balanced budget in that 
it has taken into consideration what the Federal Government should be 
doing. And it is cut from some of the areas where the Federal 
Government has gotten too involved and in fact has encroached on our 
State governments and our local governments. It has cut back in those 
areas.
  We are going back to the concept of a Federal Government that has 
specific powers and everything is not reserved to the Federal 
Government. It is going to be left to the States and to the people. 
That is the 10th amendment to the Constitution, and we are going to 
resurrect it and we are going to start with the budget that we are 
going to adopt tomorrow. We are going to give the power back to the 
people and back to the governments that are closest to the people, and 
that is where we are going to stop the spending binges from the Federal 
Government--and, oh, by the way, the strings that go with the spending 
binges. That is as costly as anything we do. The strings we attach to 
the State government when we send them the money, we are going to take 
the strings away; we are going to send them block grants. They have the 
ability to make the decisions for what is best for the people in their 
States. They are the closest to the people, and they should be 
determining what their priorities are. We do not need to tell them what 
to do in Washington, DC.
  So tomorrow is the beginning of a new day in America. It is the 
beginning of the time that we are going to take the ship of state and 
we are going to start the turn in the right direction. We are going to 
provide a future for our children and grandchildren. We are going to 
keep our promises. We are going to fulfill the mandate that the people 
gave to us.
  The President has talked a good game. He is a great speaker. He has 
made a lot of promises. But what has he done? He has given us a budget 
that does not balance. He has passed the largest tax increase in the 
history of America. He has financed our debt with short-term borrowing. 
And we are going to have to pay the price down the road for that 
mistake. And he has woefully underestimated the need for a strong 
national defense. We are going to start turning this country in the 
right direction. We started in January, and we are going to take a 
major step tomorrow to do the right thing for the people of this 
country.
  We are working very hard, Mr. President, to do what we believe is the 
right thing to do for our children, for our senior citizens, for the 
people that are truly needy, and for the people who are out there 
working for a living to be able to keep the taxes that they earn for 
themselves and not give it to the Government to determine the 
priorities for their families. And we are going to work for that small 
business entrepreneur to be able to make it and to live the American 
dream and to grow and to prosper and create the jobs that will give 
others the opportunity to live the American dream of doing better for 
their families than they have been able to have as they immigrated into 
our country, or as they were the first member of their family to get a 
college education. That is who we are working for, Mr. President, and 
that is what this balanced budget is going to ensure will continue to 
be the American dream. That is why we are here [[Page S7244]] tonight 
at 10:30 p.m. eastern time, to talk about the importance of doing the 
responsible thing. The easy thing? No. The tough decisions, the right 
decisions, and the responsible decisions that we were elected to come 
to Washington to make.
  Mr. President, we are on the eve of a very historic time, and I am 
proud that I believe we are going to do the right thing tomorrow. The 
Senate is going to put aside all of the differences that we might have 
and priorities and pass a balanced budget that will start our 7-year 
march to the time when we will begin to start paying down that long-
term debt.
  Mr. President, I thank you. I am soon going to move to close. Does 
the Senator from Iowa have anything further?
  Mr. GRASSLEY. No.
  

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