[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H15213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       PRESIDENT AND DEMOCRATS WISH TO AVOID BALANCING THE BUDGET

  (Mr. BAKER of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BAKER of California. Mr. Speaker, this morning I want to read a 
brief section from this morning's New York Times concerning yesterday's 
budget meeting between the President, Vice President, Speaker Gingrich, 
and Senator Dole:

       Vice President Al Gore, who attended the oval office 
     session and called it ``constructive,'' said there was a 
     ``slight misunderstanding,'' and that there had been no 
     pledge to use the Congressional Budget Office's assumptions. 
     He also said no timetable had been set.

  ``But minutes later, Michael D. McCurry, the White House Press 
Secretary, scurried,'' this is their quote, ``to amend Mr. Gore's 
remarks and said the President has agreed that when any individual part 
of the budget was discussed, the parties would use Congressional Budget 
Office estimates of how much it would save or cost.''
  Mr. Speaker, this revealing exchange points up a simple fact. We are 
hearing from the White House the dying gasp of liberalism, the 
ferocious efforts of our Democratic colleagues to avoid balancing the 
budget, reflected by the Vice President's frantic efforts to back away 
from fiscal integrity.
  The President signed a law he has now reaffirmed: to balance the 
budget. Mr. Speaker, the Republican Congress will stay here as long as 
it takes to get a balanced budget, lower taxes, less centralized 
government, lower interest rates, a brighter future for America's 
seniors and children and all future generations.

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