[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 180 (Tuesday, November 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H12321-H12322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LET US BALANCE THE BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Taylor of North Carolina). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Tiahrt] is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, we are facing a dilemma here in the United 
States. It is called the Federal debt. This chart shows the Federal 
debt, the amount of money that is included. It is just close to $5 
trillion. It is 4 trillion, 985 billion, 3,913 million, and on and on 
and on. I want to give you an idea just how much money that is. If you 
had gone in business the day Christ rose from the dead and lost $1 
million that day and every day until today, you would only be one-fifth 
of the way to losing this much money, one-fifth of the way in almost 
2,000 years.
  The problem is now the linchpin of the struggle between the President 
and his liberal supporters and the American people and their 
Representatives in Congress. The American people want a balanced 
budget. The House and the Senate have passed provisions to balance the 
budget and continue Government, but the President, Mr. Speaker, the 
President has chosen to shut government down.
  This is very clear. The President does not want a balanced budget. 
The American people and Congress do want a balanced budget. Let me show 
you what the President has offered. His budget that was sent to 
Congress over the next 10 years never does balance. In fact, when you 
get out to the last year, 2005, it is $200 billion in deficit. I have a 
contrasting chart that shows the difference between what we are doing 
with the Congress, this is the blue line that starts here and goes down 
to a balanced budget by the year 2002, and the President's budget, 
which continues at about a $200 billion deficit every year. It is kind 
of like my uncle, John Armstrong, says: ``If you don't want to do 
something, any excuse will do.''
  Mr. President, we are tired of you looking for excuses. The President 
says, ``Send me a clean continuing resolution, a clean debt limit 
ceiling, and I will start government up again.'' But let us look when 
the liberals controlled 

[[Page H 12322]]
the House of Representatives. Since 1977, there have been 57 continuing 
resolutions. In the 1980s they hung an entire annual Federal budget on 
one continuing resolution. This is not uncommon.
  But on the same path of inconsistency as the President and his 
alleged desire to balance the budget, Chief of Staff Panetta says, he 
said on November 9, ``Don't put a gun to the head of the President. It 
is a form of terrorism.'' Further on he said, ``Republicans are now 
obviously resorting to a form of blackmail in order to push their 
agenda onto the country. That is not an acceptable choice. This is 
blackmail.''
  But when Mr. Panetta was in Congress, and when the liberals were in 
charge, he said about the debt ceiling: ``This is the only vehicle we 
have as we close these days before recess to try to bring the American 
public what I think is a very important issue, and it relates to our 
ability to control spending and to provide a shared sacrifice in terms 
of our approach to dealing with the deficits in this country.'' That 
was on June 28, 1984.
  On the continuing resolution he said, ``Having to adopt another 
continuing resolution in this process, I know the chairman and the 
Members of the Committee on Appropriations would prefer consideration 
and passage of separate bills, but I think we have to recognize the 
reality that we must pass on a regular basis massive continuing 
resolutions, and whether they like it or not, these continuing 
resolutions set national priorities, they send signals, they lock us 
into a future in one way or another.'' That was September 22, 1982. It 
was okay for the liberals in the Democrat-controlled Congress, but now, 
it is ``blackmail.''

  Which way is it, Mr. Panetta? Is it ``the only vehicle to bring to 
the American public a very important issue,'' or is it a form of 
terrorism, as you said on November 9? Is it that ``We have to recognize 
the reality and set national priorities,'' as you said on September 22, 
1982, or is it a form of blackmail, like you said on November 9?
  I think the American public is tired of the doubletalk, Mr. Panetta. 
They want to lock us into a future, all right, but it is a future with 
a balanced budget. It goes well beyond--this double talk goes well 
beyond the Chief of Staff Panetta and the President's alleged balanced 
budget. It goes to cuts on Medicare. We are actually increasing the 
payments of Medicare from $4,800 per year as an average recipient to 
$6,700 per year in 7 years. It is the same on college student loans. 
They are going up over the next 7 years, almost $9 billion. It is the 
same on nutrition programs. Many of us remember that the President went 
to an elementary school and said, ``School children will starve under 
the Republican Plan.'' No children have been reported starving in 
public schools. Nutrition programs are going up 4 percent each year for 
7 years, a total of $1 billion.
  The bottom line is ``No more cheap excuses for shutting down the 
government, no more duplicity, no more doubletalk.'' Let us balance the 
budget. It will lower interest rates 2 percent, according to Alan 
Greenspan, from the Federal Reserve, chairman of the Federal Reserve, 
and that will affect every American, every household, every family. 
Balance the budget. Let us not have any excuses. Let us have a bright 
future for our children and our grandchildren.

                          ____________________