[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15176-H15177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ZERO VOTES ON PRESIDENT CLINTON'S BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dickey). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I would ask the gentleman from 
Georgia [Mr. Kingston] to join me in this special order.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Let me start out by asking a question, Mr. Speaker. I 
am not sure what the gentleman said. The President had a balanced 
budget plan, is that correct?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Yes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. He introduced it in Congress?
  
[[Page H15177]]

  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Correct.
  Mr. KINGSTON. We voted on it, right?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. That is correct.
  Mr. KINGSTON. So it obviously got over 200 votes on the Democrat 
side, who rejected the Republican vote?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. It did not get any votes from either side.
  Mr. KINGSTON. The gentleman from Michigan, David Bonior, the 
gentleman from Missouri, Dick Gephardt, the leaders of the minority, 
voted against President Clinton's plan?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. No Democrat or Republican voted for it, or 
independent.
  Mr. KINGSTON. The President of the United States, who has been bad 
mouthing Republicans in Congress assiduously for a year, has now 
introduced a budget that got zero Democrat votes? I find that bizarre, 
even for Washington.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Let me tell you why. It was bipartisan in 
its rejection because that budget would put us in the red by $265 
billion. There is a better answer. It is having a budget that balances, 
just like counties do, States, school boards, families. We need to make 
sure that this government is, like the rest of those outside of 
Washington, outside the beltway, balancing our budget, spending money 
where government can make a difference, but not duplicating what is 
happening in the States or in the private sector.
  Mr. KINGSTON. You, sir, have been in office 12 months now. You have a 
balanced budget. Your freshman class has supported a balanced budget. 
The President has had a 2-year jump, actually a 3-year jump on you. 
Remember, on June 4, 1992, he said on ``Larry King Live,'' he would 
have a balanced budget in 4 years. He has been in office 3 years. You 
have been in office in your freshman class 1 year. Are you saying to me 
that the President has yet to submit a balanced budget?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Yes, that is true. There have been four 
attempts. Each one has been over budget, in the red, in the deficit, 
and will not help us get out of the problem. What we need to do is make 
sure that the American people realize that what we need is a bipartisan 
budget in the Republican House and in the Republican Senate that will 
in fact balance, give people a chance to have the American dream, and 
not be overtaxed, overspent, and overregulated.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Let me ask you this, because the Democrats keep talking 
about, of course, they want a balanced budget. Surely they have 
submitted a balanced budget; is that right?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. That is correct.
  Mr. KINGSTON. They have?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. There has been a budget.
  Mr. KINGSTON. It is a balanced budget?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. It does not include the tax reforms for 
families.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Is that the official budget or is that the rump caucus, 
the blue tick budget?
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. That is correct, it is the latter.
  Mr. KINGSTON. That is not even the official budget of the Democratic 
Party.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. The official would be the Clinton budget, 
which was defeated today, 412 to zero.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I find that appalling, just to think about that. That, 
I believe, is why they have taken a full page ad out. As you know, they 
are not asking anything, really, out of the blue, but they are saying, 
``Let us use CBO, Congressional Budget Office numbers, let us balance 
the budget in 7 years, let us have both parties and all parties come to 
the table,'' and the part in bold print is what is most important. 
``Without a balanced budget, the party is over, no matter which party 
you are in.''
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. It is also important to point out that under 
the Republican proposal, which has a balanced budget, Medicare spending 
will increase 62 percent, from $178 billion this year to almost $290 
billion by the year 2002. As well for Medicaid, that increase under the 
Republican budget will go from $89 billion this year to $127 billion by 
the year 2002, a 43 percent increase.
  So the fact is the important programs that everyone wants, whether it 
be Medicaid, Medicare, earned income tax credit, education, child care, 
all those programs will be increased under the Republican budget, while 
still balancing the budget for the first time since 1969.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I think it is ironic that rather than cutting the 
budget, rather than freezing the budget, we are actually debating 
increasing it $3 trillion new dollars, as the Republican plan 
indicates, or $4 trillion new dollars, as the President wants, and all 
we are debating is the growth.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. The key feature here is that we are 
eliminating the fraud and abuse and waste. In Medicare alone, there is 
$30 billion in fraud, abuse and waste, in Medicaid it is $14 billion, 
by governmental figures. The fact is that if we just eliminate the 
fraud and abuse, we will go a long way to make sure the true services 
go back to those who are needy, whether they be seniors, children, or 
those who are poor. We want to make sure we take care of people. We are 
compassionate, Republicans and Democrats together, working to make sure 
we have a balanced budget. I know we can achieve that.

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