[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 167 (Thursday, October 26, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GETTING THE HOT AIR OUT OF GOVERNMENT

                                 ______


                          HON. CHRISTOPHER COX

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 26, 1995

  Mr. COX of California. Mr. Speaker, the Seven-Year Balanced Budget 
Reconciliation Act of 1995 gives taxpayers plenty to cheer about. 
Previous speakers have talked about the many ways in which this bill 
attacks wasteful government spending. I'd like to take this opportunity 
to talk about one boondoggle in particular which our Balanced Budget 
bill will eliminate: the National Helium Reserve.
  Humorist P.J. O'Rourke once described the National Helium Reserve as 
``amazingly stupid, even by government standards.'' First established 
in 1925 so America could field a fleet of blimps in time of war, the 
federal helium program has now piled up a debt of $1.4 billion and 
loses tens of millions more every year. It's incapable of competing 
with private industry, which accounts for 90 percent of the nation's 
helium sales and is fully capable of supplying the entire demand. But 
no Congress--until this one--had ever taken action to terminate this 
``poster child of government waste.''
  Mr. Speaker, I'd also like to point out that the true cost of 
maintaining this wasteful government anachronism has been much greater 
than its $1.4 billion debt might indicate. A more accurate price tag 
might be $250 billion--that's the amount in new taxes the American 
people had to endure under the 1993 tax bill signed into law by 
President Clinton.
  Why is it appropriate to link the helium reserve to the Clinton tax 
bill? The answer can be found in Bob Woodward's The Agenda and in 
numerous other press reports at the time of the 1993 budget debate: 
President Clinton promised Rep. Bill Sarpalius--the Democrat who until 
this year represented Amarillo, Texas, the home of the helium reserve--
that the reserve would be protected if Sarpalius changed his vote, and 
voted for the Clinton tax bill. Sarpalius did change his vote, allowing 
President Clinton a one-vote margin of victory on House passage of his 
tax bill.
  Privatizing the National Helium Reserve, then, is an achievement 
steeped in symbolism. While I am pleased that President Clinton now 
supports termination of the helium program--it was one of the few 
specific budget cuts he mentioned in his 1995 State of the Union 
address--I'm disappointed that his budget proposed to forgive the 
reserve's $1.4 billion debt. This is altogether unfair to the American 
taxpayers who for so long were forced to keep this antiquated dirigible 
of a program aloft. We must not simply ``write off'' the reserve's 
enormous debt.
  That's why I am especially pleased that the Budget Reconciliation 
bill before us today rejects the Clinton Administration's approach, and 
instead incorporates the language from H.R. 873, the helium 
privatization legislation I introduced earlier this year along with 
more than 170 Republican, Democrat, and Independent Members of the 
House.
  The Budget Reconciliation legislation gets the government out of the 
helium production business, yielding millions in annual savings. It 
requires the government to provide accurate annual financial statements 
that will for the first time reflect the reserve's true cost to the 
taxpayers. It provides firm dates for beginning and completing 
privatization of the Federal Government's vast helium reserves. Most 
importantly, it ensures that the reserve's entire $1.4 billion debt to 
taxpayers will be repaid out of the sale of the helium stockpile.
  Mr. Speaker, today's vote on the Seven-Year Balanced Budget 
Reconciliation Act represents an enormous victory for those of us who 
have fought for years to get the government out of the helium business. 
I'd like to thank the many members of this body--including Barney 
Frank, Ken Calvert, Barbara Vucanovich, and Frank Cremeans--who have 
worked so hard to help make this proposal a reality, and I urge all my 
colleagues to join with me in voting in favor of this important 
legislation.