[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 192 (Tuesday, December 5, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H13975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PRESIDENT DUTY-BOUND TO BALANCE BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maine [Mr. Longley] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LONGLEY. Mr. Speaker, I think one of the difficult things that 
Members of this Congress have to face is how to conceive of the extent 
of the national debt of this country. Given the budget negotiations 
that are ongoing, I think it might be prudent to call to the attention 
of the Members and of the Speaker the fact that as of 3 o'clock this 
afternoon, the national debt is $4,988,891,675,281.12. That is the 
official figure from the Bureau of Public Debt and the Department of 
the Treasury.
  It is next to impossible for many of us to conceive of how large a 
number that is, and frankly, it was difficult for me even to realize 
how difficult it was just to mount the number on a piece of wood. It is 
over 15 characters. In fact, the piece of lumber that Matthew and Lisa 
are holding in front of me is over 10 feet in length. Just to carry it 
from the office, I was unable to take it through the revolving door, 
leaving the Cannon Building. I was unable to use the elevator in this 
building; we had to work our way up the staircases, get some help from 
some of the security guards, just to navigate the normal hallways of 
Congress.

  I think that with the negotiations that are ongoing and given the 
work that has been done in this Congress to attempt to devise a 
reasonable plan by which we can balance the Federal debt, I would like 
to urge, Mr. Speaker, that the President has a duty to this country and 
to this Congress, given the fact that the Republicans have come up with 
a 7-year plan to balance the Federal budget, a plan that has been 
certified by the Congressional Budget Office to be fiscally in balance, 
I feel it is incumbent on the President to give us his view of how he 
would balance the budget in 7 years.
  It is not enough to criticize what we have done; I think the 
President is duty-bound to step to the plate and tell us what he would 
do. What are his priorities?
  I have to say very frankly, Mr. Speaker, as a Member of this body who 
is an American first and a member of his political party second, I 
would welcome the President's initiative, because I feel that as a 
Member of Congress I should have the right to choose between two 
competing points of view; and that is what this great Chamber is 
dedicated to, and that is what this great Chamber is being deprived of 
today by the failure of the administration to step forward and honestly 
tell us how they would balance the budget. Given the size of this debt, 
I think it is imperative that they do so.
  Mr. Speaker, I did some quick calculations with a calculator just 
before I came on the floor. If I had a business that started at the 
time of the birth of Christ and spent $1 million a day, I would still 
not spend even $1 trillion. In fact, I would need just about another 
11,000 years to even approach the figure that we have accumulated in 
terms of the national debt today.
  Another way of looking at it is that over the next 7 years under a 
Republican or Democratic version of a budget, this Government could be 
spending $12 or $13 trillion. In effect, our national debt exceeds over 
40 percent of every nickel and dime that this Government will spend 
over the next 7 years.
  In tribute to Matthew and Lisa, who represent the youngsters of this 
country who literally and figuratively are carrying the burden of this 
debt, I think again it is incumbent upon us as adults and as 
responsible citizens to do our duty in the democratic process.

  Mr. Speaker, I want to end on this note: Our hearts and prayers are 
all with the American service men and women who are being sent overseas 
and deployed into harm's way in Bosnia. I noted this morning that there 
was information from the White House to suggest that the President was 
planning to visit the troops in Bosnia once they were deployed 
following the peace treaty.
  Again, I applaud and commend that initiative on the part of the 
President, but I would also suggest to the President that his duties as 
Commander in Chief and as President of this great country call on him 
to also come to the Congress and tell us honestly, Mr. Speaker, how he 
would balance the Nation's budget.

                          ____________________