[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17049-S17050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           A BALANCED BUDGET--SOMETHING TO HAND OUR CHILDREN

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, if we are going to be quoting, let us start 
off with the President. Candidate Clinton said he would balance the 
budget in 5 years. President Clinton says it cannot be done. Yes, he 
would embrace a 7-year budget agreement. Now that is not any good 
anymore. He said he wanted a 10-year plan--I am not real sure--but all 
with a caveat of, ``Yes, I would use and want to use CBO figures,'' 
real assumptions. He said that in his State of the Union Address. Now 
that is off the table.
  Basically, what we are saying here is what is on the table: Balance 
the budget in 7 years using CBO's assumption and real economics. That 
is all we are asking. I do not think that is too much. It is because we 
have a very deep feeling and support for education. It is because this 
side of the aisle is very supportive of and deeply cares for Medicare 
that we want to save it. We do not stick our head in the sand. Medicare 
spending will actually go up some 45 percent in the next 7 years, and 
you say we do not care? Medicaid continues to go up. Welfare continues 
to go up, even with reform.
  And we care for children and grandchildren. Instead of handing them a 
bill that their country is so far in debt they never will see the 
bottom--we are spending $1 billion a day in interest on the national 
debt now, and to those who would not support a balanced budget, are you 
saying that you want your benefits now at the expense of your children 
or your grandchildren? That is the funniest parent I have ever seen, or 
grandparent.
  By not taking the meaningful steps to confront the problems we have 
now 

[[Page S17050]]
is irresponsible and, I think, probably one of the great facades that 
has been cast on the American people.
  The message over here has been constant since last year. You can talk 
about Medicare, welfare, the county fair--I do not care what you want 
to talk about. Basically, we are talking about a balanced budget. We 
are talking about something we can hand our children that they can deal 
with. It is because people ran for public office and made a promise to 
America that we will balance the budget and now the other side says, 
``We don't want you to keep your promises.''
  It is very, very simple. There is nothing, there is nothing, there is 
just nothing that is not simple about this whole presentation.
  So while we are quoting quotes and we see the message, one has been 
consistent, one has not, because maybe the compass sort of goes awry 
every now and again. The American people have learned one thing--that 
they do not want business as usual. In the past couple of months, we 
have heard a lot about the drastic cuts in Medicare. Well, where did we 
go to school? In the last 7 years, if we spent $900 billion in Medicare 
and in the next 7 years we will spend $1.6 trillion in Medicare--a 45 
percent increase--is that a cut? Not where I went to school. A 45 
percent increase by the year 2002, and we still balance the budget. The 
same goes for Medicaid.
  Let us talk about the tax package. Candidate Clinton called for a tax 
cut for the middle class during the campaign of 1992. And then in 1993 
he gave this country a tax package that was the largest tax increase in 
the history of the country. In Houston, he says: Maybe I raised your 
taxes a little too much, and I sort of cooled this economy a little too 
much.
  Well, in this package, we are trying to help some families. Seventy-
five percent or the tax cuts go to families with children. We care 
about children. There is a $500 per child tax credit. There are IRA 
reforms, and also reforms in estate planning, estate taxes, that keeps 
farms and ranches and small businesses and families functioning. There 
is an alternative minimum tax reform that creates jobs and does 
something about investment, providing an expanding economy.
  Let us talk a little bit about those death taxes, those estate taxes. 
It is a form of double taxation. Capital gains is a form of a--let us 
call it a voluntary tax. Everybody participates in capital gains. If 
you own anything that appreciates in value, it is capital gains--
anything, such as your home, or whatever, you participate in capital 
gains. It is a voluntary tax. You do not have to pay it because you do 
not have to sell. I think that is a lot of difference. When we look at 
a farm or ranch and everybody says, ``Do something for the family 
farm,'' this is what you can do; we can let them hang on to it and let 
the next generation farm it or ranch it. That is the way it should be.
  Let us not be led astray and be quoting different quotes because of 
the message, and do not shoot the messenger. There has been one 
consistent message: Now is the time to get our fiscal house in order.
  I come here from county government. We had to balance it there. 
Sometimes it would become tough because maybe you did not get 
everything covered, but you found a way to get through it. We even 
lived through an initiative in Montana called I-105. We could not levy 
any more mils because people were tired of their tax bill.

  I will say to those folks who do not want any reforms at all, if you 
do not think something has to be done over the entitlements, I have a 
little fellow out here in Springfield, VA, that takes care of my car. 
If you say to him, ``I want to raise your taxes,'' and he says, ``OK, 
you do it,'' then I will probably go along with you. Right now, he has 
all the taxes he can handle, and he is just making $25,000 a year. He 
has a couple of kids and wants to pay for a home. I think he needs a 
part of the American dream, too.
  So we do not care? I think we care a lot. We do not care for 
Medicare? I think we care a lot. We care enough to sacrifice so that we 
can save it, so that it will be there for my children and their 
children. That is what this discussion is all about. That is what it is 
all about.
  Let us talk about the package that has been presented. It is a CR, 
continuing resolution, and it says, Mr. President, agree to a 7-year 
balanced budget and use CBO figures, real assumptions, and use real 
economics, and we will put everybody back to work. But this is the time 
to balance the budget with the least amount of pain.
  So it is because we do care that we go through this. Somebody has to 
step up and take responsibility. Sometimes that gets to be a little 
tough. We hear a lot of rhetoric, a lot of rhetoric that really 
inflames the landscape so that no negotiations can take place at all. I 
do not propose to do that. What I propose to do is the responsible 
thing. I think this is the responsible thing.
  I always go back to what my dad said. Fathers teach us a lot of 
things about discipline, discipline in the family, discipline in your 
company, and discipline in your job. I can remember when our first 
child was born and dad was just a farmer down in Northwest Missouri. I 
do not see how most kids make it to be good kids anyway because they 
are being raised by amateurs. But I asked dad, ``How tough do you have 
to be on your kids disciplinewise?'' He said, ``It all depends how much 
you love them.'' I have never forgotten that, and I have never 
forgotten that in Government either. It all depends on how much we love 
this country, how much we want to put her on solid footing, to be both 
the political and economic leader in this world, because these young 
people deserve a future, and they cannot do it if they are borrowed up 
to their eyes.
  So this is responsible. This is because we love this country very 
much. This is the time to do it with the least amount of pain. Let us 
just do it.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. HOLLINGS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Campbell). The Senator from South Carolina 
is recognized.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak 
for 10 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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