[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 181 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17089-S17090]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CALLING THE PRESIDENT'S BLUFF

  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, what we are faced with here very shortly is 
essentially calling the President's bluff. We sent him a continuing 
resolution that would keep Government open, keep those workers working, 
keep the functions of Government going forward, and the President 
vetoed it, he said, because it was loaded with extraneous material. 
There were items on there that promoted the Republican budget, promoted 
the Republican plan to redefine some of the functions of Government, 
and therefore he could not accept it. But give him a clean CR, so-
called clean continuing resolution, that is what he needed. That is 
what he wanted. We had all kinds of injunctions from 1600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue about giving the President just a clean bill.
  Now, the President campaigned in 1992 vigorously on the proposal of a 
balanced budget in 4 years, some say 5. It might have been 5. The 
President has kind of been all over the lot on this. But 4 or 5 years 
is almost irrelevant here. The President said this country needs a 
balanced budget, and if I am elected, I will deliver a balanced budget.
  He also campaigned vigorously on tax relief for middle-income 
families with children, saying it is a disgrace that they are so 
shortchanged in our Tax Code; the costs of raising children are 
increasing dramatically; we need tax relief for middle America.
  That was 1992, and that was the campaign. Subsequently, we have not 
seen delivered from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a balanced budget that is 
scored as a real balanced budget. It was the President himself in his 
first address to a Joint Session of Congress after he was elected who 
looked at the Republican side with a big smile on his face and said we 
are going to use the numbers certified by the Congressional Budget 
Office because they are nonpartisan and they are not politically 
motivated as are the numbers from the Office of Management and Budget, 
which is the President's own budgeting people.
  Now, all that the Republicans are asking for, and I assume will come 
over from the House of Representatives, we hope this evening, is what 
the President has said he wants: a continuing resolution which will 
bring back Federal workers to work tomorrow morning, which will 
continue the functions of Government. There is only one condition 
attached to it, and that is the condition that the President campaigned 
for and the President now has asked for, and that is a balanced budget.
  We are saying, Mr. President, we will allow Government to go forward 
for a period of time while we resolve the details of a balanced budget. 
And unlike the 4 years or 5 years that you campaigned for, we will 
allow 7 years in order to accomplish this fact. That is all we are 
asking. And we are attaching it to this continuing resolution as a 
condition because, frankly, that is the only way we can bring the 
President to the bargaining table.
  We have heard nothing but excuse and obfuscation from the White House 
and from the President, from Democrats, our friends across the aisle. 
``Oh, yes, we're for a balanced budget, but not this one.'' Well, I 
have been here 15 years, and that is all I have heard from the party 
across the aisle. ``We're for a balanced budget, but not this one. We 

[[Page S17090]]
need to talk some more. We need to negotiate some more.'' That is all 
we have been doing this year in this body.
  Democrats say they have not been invited to the party. They have been 
at the party now for 10 months. We have debated every item that we are 
talking about in reconciliation. We talked about the tax cut, we talked 
about the changes to Medicare, to Medicaid, to welfare, to every aspect 
of the budget. Everybody knows what the details are. The fact of the 
matter is, there are people who want to maintain the status quo. They 
are the party of government, big government, ever-growing government. 
It is their ticket to political success, they think. And there are many 
of us who feel that our debt is of such a staggering proportion, and 
growing at such an extraordinary rate, that this is the moment and this 
is the time where, if we do not grab a hold of it now, it may be too 
late.
  So we have put a plan together to balance that budget. What we hear 
from the other side of the aisle is nit-picking about portions of this 
plan. And so we have said, ``All right, Mr. President. We will set that 
aside and we will simply, in return for continuing the functioning of 
government, we will simply ask you to agree to sit down with us and 
negotiate a plan to balance the budget in a 7-year period of time, 
certified by the very accounting agency, the Congressional Budget 
Office, that you asked us to use.''
  So I do not know how much more we can give the President. We have 
essentially given him everything he has asked for. And so we are going 
to find out whether or not the President is really interested in 
balancing the budget, is really interested in keeping the promise he 
made to the American people in his campaign for the Presidency. We are 
going to put this on his desk and say, ``Mr. President, we have now 
given you what you asked for. If you really believe this, sign the 
bill, and we're in business. If you veto it, we'll all know where you 
stand.''
  The bluff is going to be called. It will be called very quickly. And 
the American people will fully understand just who is willing to put it 
on the line for a balanced budget and who is not willing to put it on 
the line for a balanced budget. So we will know now in about the next 
24 hours or so just who is upfront and who is straight out with the 
American people about the agenda that is best and good for this 
country.
  I think everyone instinctively knows we cannot continue on the path 
that we are on. To continue on that path is bankruptcy for this Nation. 
Republicans are saying, ``It's time to draw the line to make the tough 
choices, to balance the budget. Mr. President, why don't you join us?"
  I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time has expired.

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