[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 193 (Wednesday, December 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H14028]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PRESIDENT CLINTON AND THE CBO

  (Mr. RIGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I notice none of our Democratic colleagues 
want to talk about the budget this morning. Perhaps that is because 
they are just as confused as we are about the President's latest 
proposal.
  Mr. Speaker, the President now says that pursuant to the bill that he 
signed into law, he will propose a balanced budget in 7 years, but he 
wants to use false numbers generated by the Office of Management and 
Budget.
  The last time the President put forward a so-called budget, it was a 
vague 22-page summary, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office 
said it had annual deficits in the range of $200 billion as far as the 
eye could see, well into the next century. Now the President says he 
will give us the details, but he still does not want to use 
Congressional Budget Office numbers, as he is obligated to do by the 
bill he signed into law.
  Yet, the President, a few years ago, stood right here, gave a State 
of the Union Address, February 17, 1993, and said, quote, ``I will 
point out that the Congressional Budget Office, which is normally more 
conservative about what is going to happen, and closer to right than 
previous Presidents have been. I did this so that we could argue about 
priorities with the same set of numbers.''
  It is time for the President to get with the program and follow the 
law that he signed.

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