[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 172 (Thursday, November 2, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16569-S16570]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                BENEFITS OF BALANCING THE FEDERAL BUDGET

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, my freshman colleagues and I have come to 
the floor again this morning to talk about our plan to balance the 
Federal budget and what that balanced budget will mean to this 
generation and, more importantly, or as importantly, to the generations 
to follow. But no statement that we make today could speak more 
eloquently than a letter I received from a young Minnesotan in Duluth, 
MN. He writes to me and urges me:

       I urge you, Mr. Grams, to take a stand for eliminating this 
     overwhelming national debt. It is a cancer that is growing 
     and growing, and something needs to be done soon, if not for 
     your generation's sake, for mine.

  For the first time in a quarter of a century, Congress is standing up 
for the coming generations, and we are standing up to the big spenders 
who have long dominated the decisionmaking here on Capitol Hill. We 
have finally said, ``Enough is enough--it is time to return to reality, 
it is time to stop the wasteful spending, and it is time to balance the 
Federal budget,'' and that is what we have done with our revolutionary 
budget plan that eliminates the deficit by the year 2002 without 
raising taxes and without drastically slashing Government spending.
  Ask Minnesotans if they think the Federal Government ought to balance 
its budget, and most people would say, ``Well, yes, of course,'' after 
all, Minnesota families have to balance their own budgets every month, 
altering their spending habits to keep pace with the paychecks coming 
in and the bills that are going out.
  The corner grocer, the video store owner, and every other job 
provider has to do the same thing. It is the responsible thing to do, 
and at a time when the taxpayers are demanding accountability in 
Washington, a responsible Congress is expected to meet those same 
standards that we ourselves have to meet.
  Besides the obvious benefits that come with prudent financial 
management, balancing the Federal budget offers tremendous economic 
benefits for all Americans--and my friend from Wyoming just went a 
through a list--through lower unemployment, lower interest rates, and a 
higher standard of living.
  The story of the credit-hungry power shopper really illustrates why.
  With a new job and a pretty good salary to go along with it, he 
applies for and receives his first credit card. An incredible shopping 
spree follows, and then another and another, and it does not take long 
before he reached his credit limit. Now he has three choices: Stop 
spending so recklessly; ask for more credit; or go to your boss and ask 
for a raise.
  The spending has become addictive and he is not about to stop. He 
already spent his last raise, so he phones the credit company and asks 
for additional credit. They are happy, of course, to oblige and he is 
off on another spending spree.
  This pattern continues for several years until he has increased his 
credit line to the point now where his monthly payments are barely 
keeping up with the interest that he owes on his tremendous debt. He 
has spent every raise in advance without a second thought, yet refuses 
to stop spending. He knows what he is doing is wrong and, in the back 
of his mind, he understands that he cannot keep doing this forever, 
after all, sooner or later the credit card company is going to come 
after him for their money, and that is the very position that our 
Federal Government finds itself in.
  For four decades, the Government has been that uncontrollable 
shopper, raising taxes, spending hundreds of billions of dollars more 
than it takes in and, in the process, it has dug this Nation into a $5 
trillion debt. Whenever it 

[[Page S 16570]]

reached the credit limit, Congress would vote to increase it. Whenever 
it needed to ask for a ``raise,'' it would vote to increase taxes on 
middle-class families.
  But now the Federal Government is in the very same position as that 
over-eager shopper. We have now reached the point where we are only 
paying enough on our national credit card, so to speak, to cover the 
interest, let alone trying to make any dent at all on the principle. In 
fact, this year for the first time, we will pay as much in interest on 
the debt as we will on national defense.
  Let us be clear, the call to raise the debt ceiling is so that this 
Government can go out and borrow another $25 billion so it can just 
make an interest payment.
  Let me say that over again. The reason the debt ceiling is going to 
have to be raised is so this Government can go out and borrow $25 
billion to meet an interest obligation. That would be like you or me 
going to the bank and borrowing money so we could come home and make an 
interest payment on our credit cards.
  Usually when we go to the bank to borrow some money, we do it in 
order to purchase something--a home, a car, or other goods--and we do 
get something in return and then we plan to make the payments, both 
principle and interest, out of income that we have. But we have a 
Government that is now so out of whack that we now are asking the 
taxpayers to let us borrow more money so we can just pay the interest. 
In other words, it is like you taking your Visa card and paying off 
your MasterCard.
  Because the Government is borrowing so much money, the dollars that 
would otherwise be available to the job providers, to the home buyers 
are no longer there. They have been sucked up by this Government.
  Without those investment dollars that could go to the private sector 
that are now going to the Federal Government, companies have been 
forced to put their long-term investments, such as new facilities and 
new equipment, on hold, and those are the type of investments that 
create the jobs that we need. Those are the investment opportunities 
currently being undermined by the Government.
  That has been especially hard on the economy, because when American 
businesses are not making long-term investments or cannot find the 
money to do it, the jobs are not being created, productivity is 
slipping and incomes do not grow. Balancing the budget and eliminating 
the deficit will free up those valuable dollars for investment allowing 
businesses to create new and higher paying jobs, by some estimates as 
many as 6.1 million new jobs by the early part of the 21st century.
  Under a balanced budget, interest rates will decline by up to 2 
percent, making loans for education, automobiles or startup businesses 
more affordable. For home buyers, a 2-percent drop in the interest rate 
would drop mortgage rates on average $100 a month. Those lower interest 
rates could boost a household's annual income by an additional $1,000 a 
year by the year 2002 and raise a family's standard of living to go 
along with it.
  Mr. President, I was listening to the distinguished junior Senator 
from North Dakota while he was speaking on the floor one day earlier 
this year. I have to thank him for introducing me to a very interesting 
book. It is a children's book, and it is something I think my 
grandchildren are going to enjoy, but its central message certainly has 
a special meaning for here in Washington as well.
  The book referred to is called The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies. 
The plot resolves around the little bear cubs in the family during a 
trip to the mall. It seems they have been infected with the 
``gimmies''--gimmie this, gimmie that, gimmie the other thing. The cubs 
were asking for everything in sight on this shopping spree, never 
giving a thought to the price tag, and it was driving the parents 
crazy.
  Well, for 40 years, the Federal Government has been infected with the 
gimmies, as well. Every pork project it wanted to dole out, every new 
social program it wanted to bankroll, it just said, gimmie. The 
Government got what it wanted because the liberal Democrats had the 
votes to take the money, and it always gave away the bill to the 
taxpayers.
  Well, this Congress is finally putting a stop to the gimmies because 
it is the only way we will ever begin to restore fiscal sanity.
  Along with cutting taxes for working-class Minnesotans, balancing the 
budget by finally getting spending under control is the most important 
statement this Congress can make to the American people that we have 
heard their calls for reform.
  Balancing the budget demands patience, however, because the greatest 
benefits from eliminating the deficit will not be realized tomorrow--it 
is not a short-term political fix--but rather 5 or 10 years from now, 
for our children and grandchildren's future.
  Mr. President, it is our moral responsibility to free the coming 
generations--our children and grandchildren--from the burdens of paying 
decades of extra interest payments because of this generation's 
extravagant spending. We cannot continue to spend our children's money.
  We have made a lot of promises, but are we really committed to 
fulfilling that tremendous responsibility? Does this Congress have the 
will, the determination, to prove that there is a better way out there 
to govern than we have seen over the past 40 years?
  Our balanced budget legislation should be proof enough that this 
Congress is prepared to meet that challenge. This is not the easy way 
out. The easy way out has always been the quick fix, going to the 
taxpayers and raising taxes, year after year, time after time. That has 
always been the easy fix, the compassionate fix, to give more money 
away that we do not have. But when we start picking our children's 
pockets, I think it is time we face our problems squarely in the eye 
and take the necessary steps to improve it. Again, this is not a short-
term fix. We are not going to realize a lot of the benefits or see it 
as early as tomorrow, but if we do not, we are going to see the tragedy 
in our children and grandchildren's faces 5, 10 years from now, when 
they look back and ask why we did this to them.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I will utilize the remainder of our time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ashcroft). The Chair informs the Senator 
that, under the previous order, the Senator has 5 minutes 6 seconds 
remaining.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, we have talked largely about balancing the 
budget. There are a number of other fundamental items involved in what 
we are doing now, including Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, and it 
includes doing something about tax reform. I think those are equally 
important.
  At this time, I yield to my friend from Oklahoma.

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