[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 197 (Tuesday, December 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H14358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Andrews] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin tonight by adding my 
voice to those who praised the colleague who spoke here a few minutes 
ago, Mr. Mfume. This institution will be impoverished by his departure, 
but I am certain that his country will be enriched by his continuing 
service at the NAACP, a different kind of service, the same ideals he 
has served us. Please let my voice be added to the record to those who 
say we will miss him.
  Mr. Speaker, as the country watches our continuing debate about the 
balanced budget, I wanted to say a few words tonight about why a 
balanced budget is so important beyond Washington bookkeeping or 
Federal financial statistics. We spent most of our time the last couple 
of weeks talking about how best to balance the budget. I would firmly 
stand with those who believe that we can do so without forcing a part B 
premium on our senior citizens Medicare or by taking reading teachers 
out of our public school and private school classrooms or without 
undercutting our ability to protect and enforce our environmental laws. 
Tonight I would like to talk about why it is so important to balance 
the budget in terms of the workaday life and family budgets of people 
all across our country.

  I represent an awful lot of people who are struggling an awful lot in 
1995, people who are unemployed, people who are barely employed, who 
are struggling at or just above the minimum wage to try to pay their 
bills with very little help from the government that assembles here. 
People who are woefully underemployed, who are making 70 or 80 percent 
of what their family budgets require. People who are employed but who 
feel that their employment is hanging by a very thin thread, that they 
may be the next victim of a corporate downsizing or a massive layoff. 
People who are retired, who thought that they were going to be able to 
get by on whatever they had in the bank when they retired, plus their 
Social Security and, if they had a pension, plus their pension, who 
have found that those assumptions really do not work for them anymore 
and they are still in real trouble.
  There are people who have never been employed who went to college, 
went to school, got their job training, got their education and cannot 
find that first job that puts them on the path to a successful career. 
How does a balanced budget affect each one of these people?
  I would suggest that it affects us, Mr. Speaker, in four ways: First, 
every dollar that the Federal Government borrows to run its operation 
from the savings pool of this country is $1 less that an employer, an 
entrepreneur, a business person has to start a new product, expand his 
or her business, and hire more people. Every dollar Uncle Sam borrows 
to meet the payroll is a dollar that cannot go to generating new 
payroll in companies and employers across this country. It is that 
simple.
  Second, every time we pile up another dollar of debt, we have to 
spend more money to service that debt, just like if, Mr. Speaker, we 
raised the amount we owe on our credit cards in our family budget, the 
amount we have to pay toward that credit card each month continues to 
rise and rise and rise. This year it is in excess of $200 billion, 
almost $300 billion by some accountings, just interest on the national 
debt. What else could we buy with that money if we did not have this 
huge debt?
  We could fully fund Head Start so that every child in this country 
who is eligible would be in a proper child care program. We would not 
have to worry about cutting back on Pell grants or student loans 
because there would be ample money for that. We could give a 
significant income tax reduction to everyone across the country with 
that money or perhaps, most importantly, we could start paying down the 
national debt that has been accumulated over here for such a long time.

  Every time we send a dollar to pay, or a bond for this borrowed 
money, it is a dollar we are not spending on education or the 
environment or our military or health care or veterans programs or 
something for children. It is a mistake.
  Third, the Federal deficit as it grows, continues to rise and put 
pressure up on interest rates. That means that every time someone buys 
a car or takes out a mortgage or makes a purchase on their credit card, 
it costs them more than it otherwise would. As the supply of money 
stays the same but the demand for money goes up because of Government 
borrowing, the price goes up. It is the law of supply and demand. Not 
even the House of Representatives can repeal that law. It forces 
interest rates up and forces the costs for family budgets up. We would 
all be better off if it did not happen.
  Finally and perhaps most importantly, we have developed a psychology 
of borrowing. In my opinion, it is an irresponsible and immoral 
psychology of borrowing that says that we can give out benefits today. 
We can spend money today and pass the cost along to future generations 
in the form of a lower standard of living, higher taxes, jeopardized 
Social Security benefits and a lower level of Government services.
  That is not fair. It is disingenuous and it is wrong.
  In the days and weeks ahead, let us work together. Let us find the 
common ground, and let us finally balance the Federal budget.

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