[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S15191]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            THE REPUBLICAN COMMITMENT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise today to join my freshman Republican 
colleagues in discussing further the Republican commitment to the 
American people, initially made last year in the elections and carried 
through to today. We promised essentially four things: to balance the 
Federal budget, and to do that in 7 years; to end welfare as we know 
it; to save Medicare, to have the courage to save Medicare and, at the 
same time, as pointed out by my colleague from Arizona, to strengthen 
Medicare and preserve it for that next generation, and to not just put 
Band-Aids on a system that is literally hemorrhaging but to prepare 
that system and strengthen that system on into the next century; 
fourth, to reduce taxes in a way that provides relief to families with 
children, allowing them to keep some of the money they have earned in 
their own pockets, and to stimulate growth and generate jobs.
  The bottom line is very clearly that the future of our Nation and the 
future of our children depends upon whether we have the courage to 
balance the budget, to save Medicare, to strengthen Medicare, to end 
welfare as we know it, and to give some degree of tax relief.
  The current path of this country leads to uncontrolled Federal 
spending and borrowing, skyrocketing annual deficits--$200 to $300 
billion by the year 2000 and even higher deficits thereafter. In fact, 
the deficit spending increases approximately $320,000 every minute, 
which means just in the short period of time that I have been talking, 
it has increased about a million dollars.
  Our current path leads to another $1.2 trillion added to our national 
debt. It is unacceptable. It will bring, by the year 2000, that debt to 
about $6.7 trillion. Our current path, if we were to do nothing, leaves 
a Medicare Program that goes broke, a Medicaid Program that doubles in 
size, with no tax base that can support that.
  Our current path, if we do nothing, leads to an enormous, 
unsustainable tax burden on young workers, on our children today, who 
will be forced to face an 82-percent tax burden over the course of 
their lives. Unless we do something, and do something courageously and 
aggressively, our current path will lead to the first generation of 
Americans in our history who have fewer opportunities than their 
parents.
  What will happen if we balance the budget? The Senator from Arizona 
pointed out a number of interesting facts. Again, we have to face the 
truth. We have to return to see what the facts actually are. A lot of 
scare tactics are being used today--especially in the field of health 
care, against our seniors--which are in essence, I think, cruel. In 
that same debate, we have to come back to the facts of what can be 
accomplished, what the realities are today.
  Similarly, by just balancing the budget, what are the facts? 
Economists calculate, again--everyone that has come through--that 
interest rates will fall incrementally by 1 to 2 percent once we 
balance the budget. The higher interest rate people pay today because 
of the debt means that people pay more for car loans, for mortgages, 
for credit card balances, and for equipment for their small businesses.
  Thus, if we can balance the budget--and we need to do it within 7 
years, again, with no phony numbers, but accurate numbers--we can do 
the following: lower interest rates, which to the average family will 
mean that they can save as much as $1,200 each year on a $75,000, 30-
year mortgage. It means on the purchase of a car, say $15,000, over the 
life of that loan a family will be able to keep $1,000 additionally in 
their pocket to invest, put in their small business or to put in 
education. For a typical credit card balance of $1,800--which is what 
it is in this country--an individual or family will save $36 per year 
by just balancing the budget. Over the next 6 to 8 weeks, the blueprint 
will be out there. A family can save as much as $1,100 over the life of 
a loan on a small business or for a typical piece of farm equipment.
  For business, lower interest rates will mean that businesses--by 
that, I mean small businesses--one- and two-person operations, as well 
as large businesses--will be able to grow because an investment will 
cost less. Profit margins will exist or be higher. Short-term loans 
will be less expensive. Inventories will cost less to store. Expansion 
will increase and innovation will be less costly.
  By simply putting a blueprint out there in law over the next 6 to 8 
weeks to balance the budget, we will also, in addition to allowing 
interest rates to come down, allow businesses to grow, new jobs to be 
created. And as businesses invest and grow and our Nation's output 
begins to rise, opportunities for every American will expand. According 
to recent studies, as many as 6 million new jobs--new jobs--will be 
created.
  According to a well-known economic forecasting firm, if we balance 
the budget by the year 2002, the gross national product will be $170 
billion higher than if we do nothing and we do not balance the budget. 
That represents, overall, a 2.5-percent increase in productivity for 
businesses. That translates down to an average family's standard of 
living being increased by about $1,000 a year.
  What does it take? Courage. It takes us acting as elected 
representatives in a responsible way. The outcome of the budget battle 
will clearly determine in what direction our country will move for the 
remainder of this century, the next 6 years, but also well into the 
next. It will take the courage of each of us, the President of the 
United States, every Member of Congress, and every American citizen, to 
make sure that the direction we choose is the right one.
  We will either have the courage to make tough choices, to face facts, 
so we can march into the future secure in the knowledge that the 
promise of America will be as bright for our children as it was for our 
parents.
  The alternative is to sink deeper and deeper into debt, until the 
despair that many Americans now register in the polls will be 
justified. The President talks a lot about common ground today, but 
really what this country needs is common sense--common sense and the 
courage to carry out the blueprint.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mr. SANTORUM addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania is recognized.

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