[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 172 (Thursday, November 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11740-H11741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PRESIDENT UNWILLING TO LEAD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Riggs] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker, throughout our history Americans have looked 
to their President for leadership in meeting the challenges and crises 
we as a country have faced. George Washington led us through the birth 
of our Nation, Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union and freed the 
slaves, Franklin Roosevelt led us out of the Great Depression and into 
victory in World War II, and Ronald Reagan faced a challenge of double-
digit interest rates and double-digit inflation and gave us the 
greatest peacetime economic expansion in history while bringing about 
the collapse of communism.
  But today, as we face the challenge of finally getting America's 
fiscal house in order and balancing the budget for the first time in 26 
years, we see a President who is not willing to lead. In fact, we see a 
President who has abdicated his responsibility to lead just when the 
value of personal responsibility is undergoing a revival in America. 
Instead of submitting a balanced budget of his own to offer as an 
alternative to the Republican budget, President Clinton proposed a 
phony budget that did not balance at all.
  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, CBO, the budget office 
that President Clinton said we should all go by, says the President's 
budget leaves us with a $209 billion deficit in the year 2005, a bigger 
deficit than we have today. In fact, have a little chart that shows the 
budget deficit growing under the President's so-called balanced budget 
plan from $196 billion today in fiscal year 1996 to $209 billion in 
fiscal year 2005.
  The President's so-called balanced budget is such a joke not a single 
Democrat would even vote for it. Indeed, when Republican Senators Hatch 
and Santorum offered the President's budget in the Senate, the Senate 
defeated it by a vote of 96 to 0.
  Instead of submitting a plan to save Medicare, which his own Medicare 
trustees said would be bankrupt in 7 years, President Clinton has 
ignored the problem, refused to work with us in Congress, the majority 
party, anyway, 

[[Page H 11741]]

to save Medicare, and has engaged in a Medicare campaign designed to 
frighten and deceive senior citizens about the Republican plan.
  Instead of coming forth with a bill to end welfare as we know it, as 
the President promised when he ran for President, the President remains 
silent throughout the welfare debate. Instead of delivering on a 
middle-class tax cut, as he also promised when he ran for President, 
and it is interesting that Candidate Clinton said one thing and 
President Clinton did another thing although, but instead of delivering 
on a middle-class tax cut as he promised during his Presidential 
campaign, the President pushed through the biggest tax increase in 
history, a tax increase that the President has recently admitted was a 
mistake. In fact, he said down in Houston at a fund raiser:

       Probably there are people in this room still mad at me for 
     that budget because you think I raised your taxes too much, 
     and it might surprise you to know that I think I raised them 
     too much, too.

  That is what the President said. But, characteristically, the 
President blamed someone else for his own mistake, in this case the 
Republican Party in the Congress, which voted unanimously against the 
Clinton Democratic tax increase.
  So, Mr. Speaker, at a time when Americans are embracing the value of 
personal responsibility, what does the President do but blame everyone 
else for his own lack of leadership?
  Well, Mr. Speaker, Republicans in this Congress are different. We are 
keeping our promises, and we are stepping up to the Nation's 
challenges. No more excuses, no more Washington gimmicks, no more blame 
game. Republicans are providing the leadership that President Clinton 
promised but which, unfortunately, he lacks, the leadership that 
America needs.
  It took less than a year for us Republicans to accomplish what 
President Clinton, in the most powerful office in the world, the most 
powerful political office, could not deliver in 3 years. In fact, just 
last week, we passed historic landmark legislation which balances the 
Federal budget for the first time in 26 years. We actually balanced the 
budget by the year 2002 by limiting the increase, not the decrease, the 
increase in Federal spending to approximately 3 percent per year 
between now and 2002.
  Second, we preserve and we protect and strengthen Medicare while 
allowing Medicare spending to increase for every senior every year. The 
increase in California, where I come from, is from $5,000 per Medicare 
beneficiary today to $8,000 per Medicare beneficiary in the year 2002. 
In fact, over that 7-year period, we plan to spend an aggregate of 
$50,000 per Medicare beneficiary in California.
  Third, genuine welfare reform that requires work, that emphasizes the 
family, and gives people hope for the future.
  Last and very importantly, tax cuts for families and for economic 
growth and job creation in the private sector which gives us most of 
our new, good-paying jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the President to follow the Republicans' 
lead, do the right thing for America's future and support a budget, our 
budget, that truly reflects America's values.

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