[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 164 (Monday, October 23, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15418-S15419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               BALANCED BUDGET RECONCILIATION ACT OF 1995

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Idaho, who 
made a terrific statement, and the Senator from Mississippi, who asked 
many of us to talk about the big picture. So many times in this 
Congress we talk about the minutia, the crisis of the day--and it seems 
like there is a crisis every day. But I think it is time, because the 
rhetoric is flying and because tempers are getting short, that we step 
back and look at the big picture.
  Almost 1 year ago, the people elected a new Congress. They rejected 
business as usual; they ended the reign of spendthrifts that mortgaged 
their grandchildrens' future for a handful of votes on the first 
Tuesday every other year.
  Now, after a year of preparation, we are ready to put into effect the 
changes that will protect us from bankruptcy and preserve the strength 
of our Union. During this week, we will debate our future course as a 
people and as a government.
  The question before us is simple: Will we follow the path of those 
who want us to tax and spend and borrow until we are so deep in debt 
and denial that we are fiscally and morally bankrupt? Or, will we set 
this country on the path toward freedom and prosperity for all, with 
charity for those who cannot help themselves?
  One of our greatest leaders, Abraham Lincoln, said, ``A house divided 
against itself cannot stand.'' Just as our country could not live 
``half slave half free,'' it cannot live in a perpetual class war with 
the poor incited to battle the rich, the old to fight the young, or the 
sick to fight the healthy. We cannot make the public better off by 
pitting them against one another for partisan advantage. We must work 
together for the benefit of all of us--for our children, for our 
handicapped, for our elderly--instead of using them as props in 
publicity stunts designed to turn people against progress without 
examining the facts.
  President Clinton has led the charges that Republicans seek to gut 
Medicare to give a tax break to the rich. How many times have you heard 
that said in the last few weeks? The Speaker of the House said that the 
President has reduced himself to scaring old people to try to defeat 
our balanced budget. In his all-out effort to defend the status quo, 
the President, who campaigned for change, takes advantage of his most 
vulnerable citizens and threatens the solvency of their health care 
trust.
  Last week, when President Clinton admitted that he and the Democrats 
in Congress had made a mistake in raising taxes, according to the 
Washington Post, reporters for the Washington Post, New York Times, 
Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times skipped the speech and went out 
for Mexican food.
  I will not argue with their choice of menus--after all, they were in 
Texas--but when they read the speech later, they still did not think it 
was news.
  Apparently, they are so used to the flip-flops by the President that 
his repudiation of the largest tax increase in the history of America 
did not sink in.
  I am not surprised that the President chose Texas as the place to 
admit that his tax hikes were a mistake, because in Texas most 
Democrats believe that Government should take less, not more. That is 
why so many of them have either been crossing the aisle or supporting 
Republicans.
  Why are they doing that? Because we are protecting the elderly by 
saving Medicare from bankruptcy. We are lowering taxes on the middle 
class, and we are cutting spending to balance the budget.
  In short, Mr. President, we are keeping our promises. We are not 
protecting the status quo. We are reordering priorities and ending 
fraud, waste, and subsidies.
  We must act now. If no changes are made to the budget, entitlement 
spending, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, and Federal 
retirement plus interest on the debt will take over the entire Federal 
budget by the year 2012.
  Now, Mr. President, think of that. In the year 2012, entitlement 
spending which is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, and 
retirement plus interest on the debt will be the entire Federal budget. 
There will be no defense spending, no spending to help crime, 
education, or anything else.
  Medicare will be insolvent next year according to members of the 
President's own Cabinet. By the year 2002, it will be bankrupt.
  Our Medicare reform proposal slows the rate of growth but it does not 
cut spending in Medicare. It slows the rate of growth, but increased 
spending will amount to 73 percent over the next 7 years. The total 
spending will be $1.6 trillion for Medicare alone. No one will 

[[Page S 15419]]
be without health care. Seniors will have more choices. They can keep 
the old plan or choose a new one that suits them better.
  We do this by cutting fraud and waste and reining in the exploding 
costs. Our tax cut reduces the tax burden on people who actually pay 
taxes. It closes loopholes. More than three-quarters of the cuts in the 
first year go to the middle class--those making $75,000 or less.
  Now, who are those people? They are mothers and fathers who will get 
help raising their children with a $500 per child tax credit; they are 
homemakers who will have the opportunity for the first time to 
contribute the maximum amount to an IRA for their retirement security; 
they are married couples who will have the Tax Code's marriage penalty 
reduced; and they are savers who are trying to buy a first home, pay 
for college for their kids, or retirement for themselves.
  Our tax cut benefits all Americans. It will put more money in 
people's pockets, and it will increase jobs. Together with a balanced 
budget, it will lower interest rates and increase the standard of 
living for millions of Americans.
  The time for publicity stunts, Mr. President, for walking out, for 
shouting, for interrupting meetings with demonstrators, and for 
labeling Republicans ``extremists'' is over.
  The public spoke clearly last November. They saw through the antics 
and the publicity stunts and they asked for leadership. Leadership is 
not increasing taxes on the elderly and everybody who drives a car and 
then claim you only hit the rich, which the Democrats without one 
Republican vote did in 1993. It is not leadership to walk away from 
those tax increases 2 years later and to attack others who seek to 
lower the tax burden now.
  It is not leadership to propose a budget to this Congress this year 
with a $200 million deficit. It is not leadership to propose only 4 
months later, a 10-year budget which you say balances but which does 
not.
  It is leadership to confront our fiscal problems head on, to show the 
people that we must preserve Medicare--and we will--to help families, 
to create jobs, and to balance the budget.
  The American people asked for leadership, for the Congress to 
shoulder the responsibility of showing them the way. This budget ends 
the culture of dependence, the belief that the people cannot provide 
for themselves. It shows the way toward hope and prosperity for all, 
with charity for those who cannot help themselves.
  The American people have created the greatest country on Earth with 
the intelligence, the creativity, and the energy God gave them. It is 
our responsibility as their leaders to maintain the opportunity they 
have created and that this great country offers. That is what we are 
trying to do, Mr. President. We are making the tough decisions to 
assure the future.
  I yield the floor.

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