[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S17049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 GREAT MYTHS: ELVIS LIVES--AND THE PRESIDENT SUPPORTS A BALANCED BUDGET

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, to the ancient Greek philosophers, the 
Earth was the centerpoint of the entire universe. We were fixed in one 
position, while the Sun, Moon and planets revolved around us.
  It was, at the very least, an egotistical assumption.
  But it held, for about a thousand years, in fact, until Copernicus 
came along in the 16th century with a radical idea of his own. This 
Polish monk who moonlighted as an astronomer decided that the Greeks 
had it completely backward--that the Sun, in fact, was the central 
heavenly object and that the Earth, Moon, and their planetary cousins 
orbited around it.
  Even though he was dismissed as a heretic at the time, his 
revolutionary notion eventually changed the course of science forever.
  Well, about 350 years have gone by and today, once again, some long-
held beliefs about what actually revolves around what are being 
challenged. And this time, we are talking about the Federal Government.
  Over the course of this century, the Federal Government has gradually 
developed the attitude that it rests at the center of the Nation's 
political power.
  The people exist to service it.
  The States exist to service it.
  After 40 years of especially excessive growth, everything today seems 
to revolve around the Federal Government, and the Government has spent 
billions of dollars, building up trillions of dollars of debt, trying 
to justify its existence and all the money we have continually poured 
into it.
  That is in spite of the Constitution, and the very protections built 
into it by the Founding Fathers to keep a bloated, arrogant, intrusive 
Federal Government from taking hold.
  In 1995, this Congress has the revolutionary idea that things worked 
better back in the old days, that the Federal Government should revolve 
around the people and the States, not the other way around.
  Our commitment to making that fundamental change is the driving force 
behind our plan to balance the budget by the year 2002. Unfortunately, 
trying to convince President Clinton that a balanced budget is worth 
fighting for is what this temporary Government shutdown is all about.
  To Congress, a balanced budget within 7 years is nonnegotiable, as it 
should be. To President Clinton, it is a political poker chip. He 
promised during his 1992 campaign that he would eliminate the deficit 
in 5 years.
  Since taking office, he has proposed goals ranging from 10 years down 
to 7, but in the two budget plans he has actually submitted to 
Congress, the budget never even comes close to balance.
  And yet he strode into a news conference yesterday to announce that: 
``I proposed to Congress a balanced budget, but Congress refused to 
accept it.''
  He used the phrase ``balance the budget'' 16 times in his brief 
statement, then walked away without facing the tough questions that 
would have followed, or should have followed, if the press would want 
to make the President accountable for his statements.
  What he neglected to mention is that his so-called balanced budgets 
were so ridiculously out of balance that they did not get a single 
vote--Republican or Democrat--when they were brought before this 
Chamber.
  Mr. President, I have received more than 500 telephone calls from my 
Minnesota constituents over the last 3 days, and the overwhelming 
majority of them--seven to one--agree with Congress. ``Stick by your 
guns and balance the budget,'' they are saying.
  Mark and Sally Crowell of Burnsville, MN felt so strongly about it 
that they sent me this fax yesterday--something they said they did on 
behalf of their four children. The fax says:

       If President Clinton doesn't want to balance the budget and 
     wants to shut down the government, we guess we are going to 
     have to put up with it for a while.
       They--the Democrats--have had 40 years to get it right and 
     have shown that they have no intention of balancing the 
     budget. Balance it for our children!

  Nobody wants a prolonged Government shutdown. Federal workers deserve 
better than that. The Americans who rely on Government services deserve 
better than that. Most of all, the taxpayers deserve better than that.
  But until we can get past all the campaign rhetoric, threats, and 
flat-out lies we are hearing from the White House--and until we get a 
commitment that we will have a balanced budget within 7 years--I am 
afraid we are not left with much of a choice.
  Mr. President, we have debunked a lot of the world's great myths over 
the last 350 years:
  We now know that the Earth revolves around the Sun, just as 
Copernicus suggested.
  If you sail toward the horizon, you will not fall off the edge of the 
world.
  Man can build a flying machine and even take it to the Moon, which, 
by the way, is not made out of green cheese after all.
  All that is left to prove is that Elvis really is dead and that 
President Clinton does support a balanced budget.
  The first one should be easy, but empty rhetoric aside, it is going 
to take a lot more evidence than we have seen over the past week to 
convince Congress and the American people that President Clinton is 
truly serious about wanting a balanced budget.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. BURNS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.

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