[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H15270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                A REPUBLICAN VIEW OF THE BUDGET PROCESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Schiff] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I want to take up where the gentleman from 
West Virginia just left off. That is, when we talk about in the short 
term why is the Government in this partial shutdown mode, as it has 
been called, the gentleman is mechanically correct when he explains how 
our systems work, that a number of agencies are funded through a total 
of 13 separate appropriations bills, and of those 13 appropriations 
bills, 7 have been passed by Congress and signed by the President.

                              {time}  1630

  Once that occurs, there is no longer a need for a continuing 
resolution to be passed to keep these agencies open, which is to say 
the agencies function whether there is or whether there is not a 
continuing resolution.
  However, the gentleman did not mention the fact that with respect to 
the other six appropriations bills, three of them were passed by the 
Congress and were just recently vetoed by the President of the United 
States. The appropriations bill for the Veterans' Administration and 
independent agencies, for the Department of the Interior and for the 
Departments of Commerce, State, and Justice, those are contained in 
three bills that the President vetoed. If the President of the United 
States had signed the appropriations bills for those agencies, they 
would be open right now regardless of the impasse over a continuing 
resolution.
  Now, it is important to say that the Democratic side has continually 
said why does the Congress not do its job and pass appropriations 
bills, but when we do pass appropriations bills, the President vetoes 
them.
  The gentleman is suggesting that is up to the President of the United 
States to sign appropriations bills as part of his duties. I do not 
think they are going to suggest that.
  I would like to make the further point, Mr. Speaker, that the 
President vetoed these bills, these three bills because he felt the 
amount of spending or other policies within them does not fit his long-
term view of where the Government should be going. The President has 
that prerogative under the Constitution to veto appropriations bills, 
or any other bills, for that matter. There is a specific procedure in 
the Constitution for that.
  The point I am making is there is no difference, no difference at 
all, between the President tying long-term policy to his vetoing three 
appropriations bills which would have reopened those agencies today and 
the Congress tying the continuing resolution for the rest of the 
agencies or these agencies, too, without an appropriations bill to 
Congress' view of a long-term policy for the Government. Both sides are 
now doing the same thing.
  The brings me to the central point of where why I took the floor 
right now, which is to talk about that long-range policy. Both sides, 
both the President and the Congress, have said we want to reach a 
balanced budget, and I hope that goes without saying. The national debt 
right now is almost $5 trillion that our children and grandchildren 
will have to pay back someday.

  Further, the interest we have to pay on this borrowed money, and we 
pay interest on money we borrow like any individual would or any 
business would, the interest we pay is over $200 billion a year. That 
is more than 10 percent of our current budget.
  When I talk about the effect, when I hear talk about the effect of 
spending on programs, imagine how much we could spend on important 
programs or allowing tax reductions if we had the use of $200 billion 
plus a year that taxpayers already send to Washington and, from an 
economic point of view, we throw out the window because interest buys 
you nothing. But we have to pay it in order to borrow more, just like 
anyone else would.
  When the Government went through this partial shutdown a month ago, 
the Government was reopened under an agreement between the President 
and the Congress that said, among other things, that by the end of the 
year the parties would reach a balanced budget in 7 years, using the 
Congressional Budget Office economic projections, although the 
Congressional Budget Office was expected to, and I believe has, 
consulted with other agencies and other individuals, and protect 
certain spending programs. The Congress passed a budget that the 
Congress believes meets all of those requirements.
  Now, I do not agree with every single item and every single choice in 
that budget. But the Congress as a whole, the majority, believes that 
it meets the requirements of our agreement of a month ago.
  As everyone knows, the President vetoed that budget, vetoed it on the 
basis it did not adequately protect his spending priorities. Again, 
that is the President's prerogative.
  What the Congress is saying now is, Mr. President, if you believe 
that the budget we passed does not comply with your priority of 
spending, show us what your priority of spending is under the terms of 
an agreement; in other words, put out a budget proposal which is 
balanced in 7 years and which uses Congressional Budget Office economic 
projections, and then show us how you would protect your priorities. 
There is nothing in that that says how the President of the United 
States has to set spending levels. There is nothing in there that says 
he has to cut spending for programs or anything else, only that the 
President of the United States abide by the agreement he made a month 
ago.
  Today the Vice President of the United States said the President 
refuses to comply with the agreement he made a month ago, and that is 
why we are at this impasse right now.

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