[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 177 (Thursday, November 9, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H12072]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO BALANCE THE FEDERAL BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, we are in a historic time right 
now for the House of Representatives and for the Congress generally. We 
have the opportunity for the first time since 1969 to in fact balance 
the budget. People say, ``What do you mean by balance the budget? 
Doesn't the country already do that?'' No, it is an unfortunate tale, 
but not since 1969 have we balanced the budget. School boards balance 
their budgets, county governments do, State governments and family 
budgets as well as corporations make sure they do not spend more than 
they bring in, but the Federal Government for many years, when they 
have more money that they have spent than they brought in, it just 
becomes a tax increase. Now we are up to almost $5 trillion in years of 
Congresses, House and Senate and prior Congresses, basically spending 
more than they bring in.
  I think the message we have heard from all of our districts, all 435 
across the country in all 50 States, is that while we want direct 
services that the Federal Government can provide that are not already 
provided by the State government or the private sector, let us make 
sure we eliminate the fraud, abuse, and waste. That is what this 
Congress is trying to do.

  By balancing the budget, we are going to be able to achieve lower 
interest payments for those who own a house and are paying a mortgage, 
we will be able to lower the interest payments for cars, for people who 
are buying a vehicle over time, we will be able to lower the cost of 
college education, and, by balancing the budget, we will in fact 
increase the opportunities for companies to expand, to grow, and to 
hire. By having more employment and more people contributing to the tax 
base, we will stabilize the tax base.
  We are on the threshold of an historic Congress in that we have 
passed the balanced budget, we will have passed tax reform, giving 
young people the opportunity to have an education, to have an elder 
care tax credit, to have a rollback of the 1993 increase of the Social 
Security tax, to allow seniors under that same tax reform proposals to 
be able to in fact earn more than $11,280 without a deduction in their 
Social Security. They will be able to earn up to $30,000 a year.
  That will reduce the capital gains tax to 19 percent for individuals, 
25 percent for companies, thus increasing job opportunities, savings, 
and expansion of businesses, and as well, we will have an adoption tax 
credit of $5,000 for families who are trying to adopt a child. All of 
these are pro-business, pro-people ideas to help seniors, to help 
working class individuals, to help our young people.
  We want to make sure that the next generation of children is not born 
with such a heavy debt, and by having the heavy debt it makes it harder 
to get a job, it makes it harder to keep a job, it makes it harder to 
enjoy the quality of life that we want to have that is better than we 
had. We can make sure that we build upon the American dream by working 
together in a bipartisan fashion to balance our budget, to make sure 
that we have businesses that are thriving, and to make sure that 
services that have to be performed by the Federal Government do not 
have all the bureaucratic red tape and the unnecessary costs that have 
occasioned them in previous years.

                              {time}  1845

  So I am looking forward to a final reconciliation bill, a final 
legislation dealing with the House and Senate, working together and 
hopefully also having the President's assistance as well, to make sure 
that we do what the American people want, and that is balance the 
budget, reduce spending that is wasteful, reduce excessive cost, and 
provide the services that people need without bankrupting the Nation.

                          ____________________