[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 138 (Thursday, September 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H8669-H8670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Chambliss] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. Speaker, I will continue my dialogue with my 
friend from the First District of Georgia, Mr. Kingston. We want to 
talk for a minute about the process we have been going through here in 
Congress for the last couple of weeks before the recess and a couple 
days since we have been back, and that is the appropriations process. 
We have been taking the money that is received by the government from 
the taxpayers and deciding exactly how that money ought to be spent, 
which departments ought to receive what amount of money, what programs 
ought to be funded, and what programs ought not to be funded.
  One thing that we have done, we have made severe cuts in Federal 
spending. We are going to continue to make severe cuts in Federal 
spending. We are 

[[Page H 8670]]
not going to accomplish all of the cuts that need to be made in this 
session of Congress, but we have made a giant step in the right 
direction.
  The gentleman from the First District of course is on the Committee 
on Appropriations, and he may want to address some specific items we 
have dealt with over the last couple of years.
  Mr. KINGSTON. What we have done is we have eliminated, where we can, 
we have consolidated, we have reduced, and, in spending we have 
increased in others, tried to hold the line on. But, for example, there 
are 163 different Federal jobs training programs, 240 Federal education 
programs; there are 30 different nutrition programs. Clearly some of 
these can be eliminated or consolidated so that we can get more money 
to the needy, where that is required, and balance the budget more than 
anything.
  Out of the 13 appropriations bills we have passed, 12 of them in the 
House, they all move us toward a balanced budget by the year 2002. I 
wish, and I know you do, I wish we could do it sooner. But we are 
working on the process. For the first time ever, when we pass that last 
appropriations bill, the DC appropriations bill, we have passed a 
budget that moves towards a balanced budget with a clear ending in 
sight.
  Unfortunately, as you have pointed out, the folks on the other side 
of the Capitol, the other body, have not passed a lot of the 
legislation because not only are we trying to balance the budget, but 
we are trying to reduce the bureaucracy, reduce the micro-management 
out of Washington, the regulatory burden, and so forth, and increase 
personal responsibility. They have not done a thing over there, not one 
thing.
  On October 1 the fiscal year ends, and the Federal budget, it is time 
for a showdown. It has been called up here the great train wreck will 
be coming, but I think it is going to be the rude awakening or the 
reality check. Do you want the status quo to continue? The President is 
going to make that decision. Should the Government continue or is he 
going to want to shut it down?
                              {time}  1930

  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Spending has been out of control in Congress for too 
many years now. We have not had a balanced budget in 25 years. We run 
the largest business in the world right here in this Chamber. And if 
any member of the business community across the United States ran their 
business like Congress has been running the business of this country, 
they would not last 60 days. It is time we put responsibility back in 
government. That is one thing that November 8 was all about.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Just to underscore what you are saying, when Price 
Waterhouse came in to do the audit, it was Price Waterhouse that came 
in, they could not audit the House books. There were too many old-ball 
ways of doing business. So too many----
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Too many pockets full of money out there and too many 
strange-looking expenditures of tax money.
  But we have done things like today, I was extremely proud that we 
passed a defense appropriation bill today. I am a member of the 
Committee on national Security. We have worked extremely hard over the 
last 7 months, 8 months to put together a defense bill that ensures 
that we will always be the world's strongest military power. We are the 
world's greatest country because we are the world's strongest military 
power. I was very pleased today that that defense appropriations bill 
passed by a large bipartisan margin. I think we are going to get the 
military in this country back on the right track because we have cut 
the defense budget every year for the last 7 years. We have now 
restored the money. More importantly, we are spending the money from a 
defense standpoint where the money needs to be spent.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Well, it is interesting to note that part of the debate 
today was interrupted for a Joint Chiefs of Staff briefing to Members 
of Congress on Bosnia.
  It is still a very dangerous world. I believe the military budget is 
still down 30 or 40 percent of what it was 10 years ago. We are at $244 
billion, I believe it was up to about $250 billion. I am not 100 
percent sure on those numbers offhand. I have them in my office, but I 
know that the military budget has fallen tremendously from where it was 
in the mid-1980's.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. And there were some reasons why that should happen. As 
the cold war with Russia has come to an end, it is time to downsize the 
military, to get it down to a more manageable figure and something that 
we can afford. That has been true over the last several years. That is 
one reason the Defense Department budget has been reduced.


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