[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S17062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A CLASHING OF TWO CULTURES

  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, in Washington, we are facing a crisis. 
It is not just a crisis of a Government shutdown, but it is the crisis 
of what direction we shall go as a nation regarding a balanced budget.
  It is my strongest opinion that the liberals are standing in the way 
of a balanced budget. I always tell high school audiences that they 
should decide if they are liberal or conservative. If they are more 
liberal, they probably should join the liberal wing of the Democratic 
Party. If they are more conservative, they probably should join the 
Republican Party.
  Let us face it, there are two cultures clashing here. One is the 
traditional liberal culture of big government; the other is the effort 
to have less government, lower taxes, less regulation, and the two 
cultures have clashed here in this balanced budget debate.
  It has been my opinion that there has been shameless waste in many 
Federal Government spending programs--shameless waste. There has been 
waste, fraud, and abuse, and the American people want our Federal 
Government to become more efficient. They want to take care of the 
poor, they want to take care of the Medicaid and Medicare people and, 
indeed, our budget does take care of them. We are a compassionate 
people in that we certainly will not abandon the poor and the elderly. 
But our people want us to be more efficient in the use of Federal 
dollars.
  Working middle-class families have felt that they are left out of the 
system. A lot of families, or a lot of people, are what are called 
working middle class. They do not get a lot of the tax breaks. They are 
required to pull the wagon, so to speak.
  There is a revolt across the country of these working middle-class 
families and their children, because they feel that if we do not move 
toward a balanced budget, they will have to pay higher taxes and their 
children will have to pay higher taxes.
  I tell all of the high school graduating classes that I talk to that 
they will have to pay between 3 and 5 percent additional taxes all 
their lives because of the debt that this country has.
  In my State of South Dakota, we primarily have working middle-class 
people, and they are the ones who drive us to stick together to get 
this budget passed that will bring us to a balanced budget in the year 
2002. I feel passionately that we must give the dream of America back 
to our children.
  I feel that this budget is the most important single piece of 
legislation, because if we fail, we will be continuing the same habits 
of deficit spending that has gotten us this huge debt. At some point, 
we have to stop, and we have reached that point.
  In my State of South Dakota, our field offices have received an 
overwhelming number of calls that indicate that our people want us to 
continue; our people do not want us to compromise the balanced-budget 
principle; our people want us to take the steps. So we have cast many 
of those difficult votes this year.

  I hope our leadership does not compromise. I know that all parties 
are acting in what they believe to be the national interest. But I 
think realistically and actually what is happening is that the liberal 
traditional approach to Government is clashing with what came out of 
the 1994 elections, and that is a fiscally conservative approach to 
Government. Those two forces are now clashing, and the working middle-
class families of America are watching to see if we have a resolve to 
continue to move toward a balanced budget by 2002. I urge our 
leadership to continue that effort.
  Ms. MIKULSKI addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland [Ms. Mikulski] is 
recognized.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 
minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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