[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 200 (Friday, December 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18689-S18690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE CBO IS NOT SANTA CLAUS

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I want to talk a little bit this afternoon 
about budget numbers and budget dollars.
  To hear the talk on Capitol Hill, you would think that Christmas came 
early this week and that the Congressional Budget Office was playing 
the part of Santa Claus, because on Monday, the CBO released its 
revised revenue predictions for the next 7 years, producing an 
unexpected $135 billion windfall over the life of our 7-year plan to 
balance the Federal budget.
  And would you not know it, like kids let loose under a package-packed 
Christmas tree, President Clinton and Congress are scrambling to snatch 
up the dollars for their own holiday spending spree.
  Mr. President, I did not come to the floor to be the Grinch Who Stole 
Christmas, but let's take a step back and ask ourselves just what we're 
doing here. We've got a deficit today of $164 billion and a national 
debt of nearly $5 trillion.
  We are dangerously overextended on the Government's credit card. Yet 
when the revenue forecast says we will have $135 billion more than we 
thought we would have by the year 2002, what are we thinking when the 
first thing we want to do is rush out and squander it on a taxpayer 
financed holiday spending spree?
  If that is how this Congress is going to conduct itself, we are no 
better than the 40 years of past Congresses that got us into this 
fiscal mess to begin with.
  Where is the commitment to changing Washington's free-spending ways 
we like to brag about to our constituents back home? What kind of 
message does this send to the taxpayers, who entrusted their dollars--
their hard-earned tax dollars--to us in the first place?
  Anybody can spend a dollar, Mr. President, or in the case of 
Congress, a great, great many of them. But it takes discipline to save 
those same dollars, and what I am seeing today is a disturbing lack of 
the kind of discipline it will take to finally balance the budget.
  What should we do with the $135 billion found by the CBO? Exactly 
what legislation introduced last week by myself and my good friend, 
Senator McCain, instructs us to do: lock it away on behalf of the 
taxpayers for deficit reduction or additional tax relief.
  The Taxpayer Protection Lockbox Act of 1995 precisely spells out the 
process Congress must undertake when actual Federal revenues exceed 
predictions. Our legislation ends the abuse of taxpayer dollars and 
returns honesty to the budget process by creating a new revenue 
lockbox.
  As we all know, Congress acknowledges the CBO as Government's voice 
of authority when it comes to accurate, conservative, nonpartisan 
economic projections.
  Congress relies on those CBO projections when we estimate the amount 
of tax revenues that will come into the Treasury over the life of our 
7-year balanced budget plan, and then we use those revenue estimates to 
determine the extent to which Federal spending can grow without 
resulting in a budget deficit in the year 2002.
  While these estimates by the Congressional Budget Office are 
generally on the mark, they are only estimates, of course, and the 
revised forecast issued by the CBO this week illustrates the inherent 
problem with forecasts: Changing conditions mean forecasts need to be 
updated.
  And as we move closer to a balanced budget, they will need further 
updating to take into account the additional dollars our balanced 
budget plan will generate for the Treasury. After all, we are including 
tax relief designed to stimulate economic growth, create new jobs, and 
turn tax users into productive taxpayers.
  Any additional dollars, however, should not be used to feed Congress' 
appetite for spending. Instead, any additional revenue that results 
from our balanced budget plan ought to be returned to the taxpayers in 
the form of tax relief or deficit reduction.
  These dollars were born of the hard work and productivity of the 
American people--it makes sense to give those dollars back to the 
taxpayers and encourage even greater productivity.
  And that is just what our revenue lockbox does. It requires that any 
revenues above and beyond current estimates be used for tax cuts and/or 
deficit reduction.
  It ensures taxpayers that their hard-earned dollars will no longer be 
automatically spent by Congress, ending 

[[Page S18690]]
the misguided notion here in the beltway that tax dollars belong to the 
Government, rather than the taxpayers.
  Imagine the dramatic deficit reduction we could achieve if, instead 
of plowing the CBO's $135 billion into more social spending, against 
the wishes of the taxpayers, we dedicated it toward eliminating the 
deficit.
  How much sooner would we balance the budget and start down the road 
toward a debt-free future for our children and grandchildren if we 
invested that $135 billion in their future, and not on another quick 
fix for the big spenders in Washington?
  After all, if the politicians have their way, how much of that $135 
billion will truly be spent meeting needs, and not simply offering 
dessert?
  Or imagine what we could do for the taxpayers of this Nation--who 
have been forced every year to finance the political agenda of a 
Congress that simply never learned to say ``no''--if we handed them 
back that $135 billion in the form of tax relief?
  Have we forgotten that it is their money to begin with, not the 
Government's? Mr. President, it is as if you and a friend were walking 
down the street and happened across a wallet plump with cash. For most 
of us, there is no moral dilemma--it is not our money.
  We would return it to its rightful owner, no questions asked. Well, 
there is apparently no moral dilemma for Congress, either--it would 
spend the money, even $135 billion dollars, long before the wallet's 
owner even realized it was missing.
  By dedicating it toward tax cuts, Congress could do a lot of good 
with the CBO's $135 billion in unexpected revenue. What about expanding 
the tax relief provisions already called for in our Balanced Budget 
Act?
  We could make the $500 per child tax credit be retroactive back to 
January 1, 1995, and help offset the devastating effects of President 
Clinton's retroactive tax increase in 1993.
  We could make the $500 per-child tax credit refundable against 
payroll tax liability, enabling lower-income, working Americans the 
opportunity to keep more of the dollars they so desperately need to 
keep their families fed and clothed, with a secure roof over their 
heads.
  We could eliminate the marriage penalty this year--not 7 years from 
now.
  We could empower senior citizens to once again become productive 
members of the workforce by repealing the Social Security earnings 
limit--another tax increase imposed by President Clinton in his 1993 
budget.
  We could index the capital gains tax back to an earlier date as well.
  Mr. President, by intelligently utilizing the CBO's new forecasts, 
there are a great many things we could do to expand on our promise to 
the American people to cut their taxes while we are balancing the 
budget.
  But blocking our way is a White House intent on financing more and 
more Federal spending at the taxpayers' expense, and you won't find a 
more vivid illustration of just why we need the deficit lockbox and the 
protections it would provide.
  If there are any extra dollars in the Federal budget, they should be 
returned to the millions of American taxpayers who finance this 
Government every day with sweat and blood, not to Congress or the White 
House for bigger Government.
  I do not know what it will take to convince me that President Clinton 
and the big spenders on Capitol Hill are truly serious about getting 
Government spending under control, but I do know they will never do it 
by trying to compete with Santa Claus.
  If they want to don red suits and beards and finance more Government 
agencies, more bureaucrats, and more Federal programs, they will have 
to cut spending somewhere else to pay for them. The holiday season may 
be a time for giving, but the taxpayers have already given until it 
hurts.
  You can call me old fashioned, but a gift that reflects the true 
spirit of Christmas is not about giving in the hope of getting 
something back in return. It is about giving something from the heart.
  A balanced budget is that kind of gift, Mr. President. You cannot 
wrap up a balanced budget, or engrave it, or put it under a Christmas 
tree. It is not the kind of gift that will score you points with 
relatives looking for a holiday handout or get you in good with the 
boss or impress a neighbor.
  You cannot really hand it to anyone and get a thank you in return. 
You can, however, look into the faces of those who will someday 
appreciate this gift most of all--our children and grandchildren, 
because once the Federal budget is balanced, they will finally be 
free. That, Mr. President, will be the greatest Christmas gift Congress 
could deliver this holiday season--that is, to work out a balanced 
budget before we leave on December 22.

  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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