[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 184 (Saturday, November 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17454-S17455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE PROMISES OF POWER

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, it is funny, I hear a lot of talk this 
morning on the floor about compromising with the President on our 
budget. I say it is funny because he has not officially even received 
it yet. He says he is going to veto it. But I say, let us give him the 
opportunity to do that. Let us give him the chance to veto this budget. 
Let him look in that camera and into the eyes of the American people 
and tell them he does not want this balanced budget, he does not think 
Americans deserve it and, what is more, he does not think they should 
have a tax cut to go along with it, and that money really belongs to 
Washington to spend.
  I might just be a lowly freshman from Minnesota in this body, a plebe 
by the standards of some of the more senior Members. But I know why I 
am here: Because I told the people of Minnesota if they would elect me, 
I would come here and I would work to balance the budget, to reduce the 
size and the scope of this bloated bureaucracy that we call the Federal 
Government; and by doing that we would be able to allow them to keep a 
little bit more of their own money in the form of a tax cut.
  I hear my colleagues on the other side saying how people do not have 
the money to spend anymore in this country. Well, that follows 30 years 
of Democratic programs--but, more importantly, 30 years of Democratic 
tax hikes that have taken that money from our families and sent it to 
Washington.
  Really, what kind of deal has been talked about on the floor here 
this morning? What kind of deal are the Democrats and the White House 
talking about? Let me put some of this in perspective. Our budget plan 
talks about spending $12 trillion over the next 7 years. The White 
House and the liberal leadership of the Democrats in the Senate and 
House want to spend about $12.5 trillion, at a minimum. Some are 
willing to work out any kind of agreement today so that we can go home 
and have a long weekend.

  How are we going to tell our taxpayers that we are willing to spend 
another $500 billion of their money, collapse on this very important 
issue, so that can have a long weekend? How do we tell the taxpayers 
that?
  Our budget increases spending on all these programs. Our spending 
goes up every year. If you listen to those on the other side of the 
aisle, it is like we are gutting everything that this country has stood 
for, that somehow this country is going to collapse if we save 5 
percent over the next 7 years. By the way, we are only about 1 percent 
apart on the Medicare, compared to the President's proposal and ours. 
In your own budgets, if you are making a dollar and they say you can 
have 99 cents, not a dollar, are you going to say, ``I am going to 
collapse''? We cannot save that 1 percent?
  Our budget increases spending on Medicare 64 percent, from $174 
billion this year to nearly $289 billion in the year 2002--per capita. 
Everybody that will be on Medicare will be going from about $4,800 a 
year to $6,700 per person a year. That is not a cut. That is not a 
collapse. That is not solving all the problems or changing the way we 
do business here in Washington. My colleagues on the other side want to 
just throw more money at it and take more from the taxpayers and let 
Washington spend more. Should we agree to more of the same--programs 
that have failed--just to give them more money to spend?
  Where do we get all this money? The Government does not produce any 
revenues. It only can collect them and dispense them. I am fighting for 
something that is fair; I am fighting for the taxpayers.
  I have been listening to the statements on the floor all morning, and 
also reading some of the comments in the newspaper following last 
night's real historic vote on our balanced budget legislation. I found 
myself then thinking about Abraham Lincoln. This was a man who knew 
something about dealing with adversity. He was elected President to 
lead the Nation through some of the darkest hours. The Civil War had 
divided the country, pitting neighbor against neighbor, brother against 
brother. Yet, he found a way then to use the power of the Presidency to 
inspire the people--not with the harsh rhetoric of hate, but with a 
vision that something better lay ahead. His words gave people hope to 
continue fighting for what they believed so strongly was right.
  So you know Abraham Lincoln was speaking from the heart, and drawing 
on the experiences of his own life, when he said, ``Nearly all men can 
stand adversity * * * but if you want to test a man's character, give 
him power.''
  I am not one who is quick to edit the words of a President that I 
admire very much, but after nearly a year service in this Chamber, and 
especially after the antics we have been subjected to over the last 
month, I think Abraham Lincoln's words would ring equally true if you 
changed them slightly to read this way: ``Nearly all men can stand 
adversity* * * but if you want to test a man's character, take away his 
power.''
  Nearly every Republican here knows how tough it is to have that power 
taken away and be forced to serve in the minority. Many colleagues on 
this side of the aisle have been in the majority only to be shifted to 
the minority after the 1986 elections. It is tough, it is an 
adjustment, and it is not a lot of fun. But this year it has led to a 
lot of irresponsible politicking, and it has all been at the expense of 
truth and substantive debate.

  Mr. President, what would you do if you were walking along and 
stepped into a pool of quicksand, and before you knew it, you were up 
to your waist, sinking quickly? At first, you would begin to do a lot 
of shouting, like we hear from the other side. You probably would not 
care too much about what you were saying, as long as you said it loudly 
and were attracting a lot of attention. It did not stop the sinking 
sensation, of course, but at least you felt like you were doing 
something.
  Finally, a political consultant happens to come along--how 
convenient. They are brilliant at putting the right ``spin'' on things. 
Maybe they will figure a way out for you. ``How convincingly can you 
say `the Republicans are cutting Medicare and putting senior citizens 
at grave risk?' '' asks the consultant. Well, you are willing to try 
anything at this point, since the only attention your shouting has 
gotten you so far were the services of a political consultant.
  So you shout it--forget that it is not even close to the truth, and 
that you do not even really believe what you are saying, but you are 
fighting for your life here. Anything goes.
  I just heard the Senator from Massachusetts say, ``It will all depend 
on 1996. This will lead to the election of 

[[Page S 17455]]
1996.'' Republicans have an eye on an election, too, but it was the 
1994 election. We are trying to do what the taxpayers, the American 
voters, sent us here to do, while the Democrats are looking to 1996 and 
trying to put up some kind of a hope of regaining this Chamber.
  Pretty soon, this quicksand reaches up to your chin. ``Any more 
brilliant ideas?'' you ask the consultant. ``How about shouting louder 
this time that the Republicans are hurting children and the poor. That 
has always worked before for me.'' You roll your eyes, but you are 
getting more desperate, and so you start yelling for all that you are 
worth that the Republicans in Congress are hurting children and hurting 
the poor.
  Of course, it is getting harder to shout because the quicksand is 
brushing up to the corners of your mouth. Still, nobody is paying 
attention.
  ``All right, the old tricks are not working anymore, so it is time 
for desperate measures,'' says the consultant.
  ``I guess I am going to have to throw you this vine, but you have to 
keep shouting while I get it over to you.''
  He tosses you the vine, and with your last breath, you scream, ``I 
want a balanced budget--just not this one.''
  With a final ``glug,'' you sink out of sight.
  The political consultant would shake his head and say, ``Gee,'' as he 
heads off searching for his next victim, ``even I could have told you 
people were not gullible enough to swallow that line.''
  ``We want a balanced budget, just not this one. We want a balanced 
budget, but we want to spend more money in order to balance the budget. 
We want to meet a compromise with our Republican friends, but it has to 
be our way; we want to spend more.''
  They are talking about coming to our senses. Ask the taxpayer if 
another $500 billion in spending is coming to your senses. Mr. 
President, the opposition is sinking in the quicksand of public 
opinion. Not even their high-paid consultants and political spin 
doctors can put a good spin on a bad message.
  Instead of facing the financial and moral crises that are challenging 
this Nation, they want to ignore it and point fingers. If you are not 
right, you demagog it to death.
  If you do not have a plan of your own, you blast the opposition's. If 
you are not ready to do the people's business, stall them. If your own 
leadership is afraid to lead, you can resort to name calling and 
personal attacks.
  Well, Mr. President, the more I hear from my colleagues across the 
aisle, the more difficult it is to understand how they can actually 
believe their own desperate words.
  They claim this is a dark poison over this Capitol. Poison? It is far 
from it. What I hear in this Chamber and in the other body is the voice 
of the people.
  After years of darkness, the election finally ushered in some light 
and some tough and that truth is what we are hearing today. If my 
colleagues are seeing the truth, and it look like poison to them, they 
need to take a hard look at just who they are representing because they 
are not representing the people who are calling my office.
  They have lost the power, and it is scaring them silly, and as they 
grasp for the last vine, look what it's done to them.
  Mr. President, yesterday we passed what I believe will become the 
defining piece of legislation of the 104th Congress.
  For the first time in a quarter century, we have balanced the budget, 
and we are doing it for our children and our future.
  We are cutting taxes for working class families.
  Of course the Democrats say, ``Not this balanced budget. We want a 
balanced budget.'' The President, in a 5-minute speech the other day 
said it 16 times, ``We want a balanced budget, but give us more money 
to do it.''
  We are giving welfare recipients the opportunity to lift themselves 
out of a life of dependency and into society. We are preserving and 
strengthening the Medicare system for this generation and the next. We 
are doing all of this because we believe we must.
  As Abraham Lincoln warned, our character has indeed been tested by 
the power with which this Congress has been entrusted--entrusted to us 
by people like Duane Bonneman who just sent me this fax here this 
morning, and let me read it quickly.
  He said in the fax, ``You are in difficult days. Be strong. Be 
courageous. Never give up. The prevention of the worst economic 
disaster in world history lies in your hands. Ignore the media. Ignore 
the polls. Do what you need to do to get it done. But please, don't 
give up.''
  Mr. President, I think the Democrats must be getting the same type of 
phone calls we are. I just want to say I am not here to give up.
  Again, I say I know why I am here in the Senate. It is because the 
people of Minnesota sent me here to help balance the budget and cut 
taxes. I am not going to do anything short of that. I am not willing to 
compromise if it means taking more money from average families so that 
some bureaucrat in Washington can spend it.
  I am willing to make sure that we have a fair and equitable budget, 
one that meets the needs and responsibilities of this Nation, but not 
one that robs our children's future.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 
to proceed in morning business for 6 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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