[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13283-H13284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE BALANCED BUDGET ACT: A HISTORIC VOTE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Martini] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MARTINI. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, in listening to the closing 
debate by our very able chairman of the Committee on the Budget, I was 
struck by his comments acknowledging the many people who have been 
working for so many years to enact or to present to this floor for a 
vote, finally, a Balanced Budget Act.
  In listening to Chairman Kasich's comments, it struck me at this very 
moment how rare of an honor it is indeed for me to be here today to 
have cast a vote on such a historic piece of legislation. In fact, it 
is this very legislation which embodies the very principles that I 
campaigned on just 12 months ago.
  The Balanced Budget Act of 1995 represents the essence of what I 
believe in: a fiscally sound and responsible Federal Government that 
passes on a better America to its future generations. This truly for me 
is a defining moment in our Nation's history.
  The Balanced Budget Act is not a smoke-and-mirrors sham in an attempt 
to fool the electorate. This budget is a real, honest plan that offers 
the people we serve the first balanced budget in a 

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quarter of a century. This bill is, in my opinion, right for New 
Jersey, but more importantly, right for America.
  Throughout the debate leading up to today's historic vote we have 
witnessed a debate between two competing visions. On the one side are 
the advocates of the status quo, and on the other a group of 
legislators committed to offering real solutions to real problems.
  Sadly, the advocates of the status quo have only been able to offer 
us echoes of the very sentiments that put our country in the red to 
begin with. Their answers to the very real questions and problems we 
are faced with are disappointingly and simply more of the same.
  They believe that more spending, more taxes, and more debt are the 
answer to our budget ills. Most regrettably, during this debate the 
supporters of the status quo have fueled the fires of skepticism and 
despair, choosing to resort to demagoguery and doomsday scenarios at a 
time when our constituents deserve more.
  As we stand on the threshold of truly monumental reform, it is only 
natural to experience a certain amount of anxiety about what comes 
next. But real leadership demands, in my opinion, that the response to 
that anxiety be hard work and commitment, not homage to the failed 
policies of the past.

  Mr. Speaker, today we delivered where others have failed. Only in 
1992, our non-President and then-candidate promised a balanced budget, 
the end of welfare as we know it, and a middle-class tax cut. We have 
been denied every one of these by the President and his Congress.
  Today, we represent the very opposite. Today we will balance, and did 
balance, the budget for the sake of our children and their future. We 
have offered real, credible welfare reform and we will deliver a 
middle-class tax cut.
  In short, today in passing the Balanced Budget Act of 1995, we are 
offering the President, by signing this bill, the opportunity to 
fulfill his major campaign pledges in one fell swoop. And sadly, again, 
he appears once more to be poised to reject his own campaign promises.
  Finally, I would like to comment for a moment about the subject of 
Medicare. Unquestionably, in my opinion, the politics of this issue 
were best explained in the November 16 edition of the Washington Post 
editorial when it said the following: ``The Democrats, led by the 
President, choose instead to present themselves as Medicare's great 
protectors. They have shamelessly used the issue, demagogued on it, 
because they think that's where the votes are and the way to derail the 
Republican plans generally.''
  Sadly, I must agree with those comments. In defense of the status 
quo, we have seen only politics and not leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, in the past several weeks I visited the veterans in my 
district and over that time I have been repeatedly reminded of how 
impressed I am each time with their courage in the face of real 
adversity and dangerous crises as those that they have faced.
  They were successful in their battles and kept America safe from a 
dangerous world, but history has shown as that great civilizations fall 
victims to the crisis from within just as often as they fall prey to 
the threats from without. The threats from within might not be tangible 
or have a face or a name readily associated with them, but they do, in 
fact, exist.
  Mr. Speaker, the deficit is just such a threat. Through it may not be 
apparent to Americans in their everyday lives, the effects of the 
deficit spending and out-of-control growth in the Federal Government 
pose a real, real danger for America. We in Congress are charged with 
the duty of dealing with these problems, which is what the debate was 
about today.
  Mr. Speaker, it is not difficult to figure out what the people want 
and deserve. They do not want us to blink. They want us to go forward. 
They do want us to pass along to their children a future filled with 
prosperity and hope, not debt and despair.
  Mr. Speaker, I was pleased and humbled to be a part of this historic 
vote today, after only 11 months ago coming to this House.

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