[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 206 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S19073-S19074]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           A WONDERFUL LIFE . . . OR JUST ANOTHER NIGHTMARE?

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I know this is a very important debate that 
is going on dealing with securities litigation, but there is also an 
important debate going on today and has been going on for months, and 
that is dealing with the budget.
  The string of budgets that have been coming out of the White House 
lately reminds me of those movies called ``Nightmare on Elm Street.'' 
They have a few good scares, mixed with a lot of unintentional comedy. 
The emphasis clearly is on quantity, not quality, and they offer few, 
if any, redeeming values. There have been so many of them that after a 
while, you just start losing count.
  Just to recap: We are talking budgets. We have had Clinton I. That 
failed in the Senate 99 to 0;
  Clinton II that did not get a single vote in the Senate as well, 
Republican or Democrat;
  Clinton III, that one was pulled before we could even vote on it;
  And just last Friday, Clinton IV. The Senate did not waste our time 
on it after the House late Wednesday dealt a resounding blow by 
defeating it on a bipartisan vote of 412 to 0.
  Four budgets submitted by President Clinton, four major 
disappointments, and not one vote from a single Member of this Congress 
to support any of them.
  What is it about the President's vision of a balanced budget that is 
so different from everyone else's? By refusing to use honest budget 
numbers certified by the Congressional Budget Office, the President's 
budgets have failed the first true test of a balanced budget: They 
never come close to being balanced.
  Yet, there are encouraging signs that the White House is shifting its 
ever-shifting budget policy and now wants to cooperate with Congress to 
produce the kind of budget plan that the American people are demanding: 
A balanced budget attainable by the year 2002 that reaches balance by 
cutting the growth of Federal spending and does not raise taxes, that, 
in fact, cuts taxes.
  Following his meeting Tuesday afternoon with Senator Dole and Speaker 
Gingrich, I welcome the news that President Clinton has finally agreed 
to work with us, using the economic projections of the CBO, to craft a 
plan that will bring the Federal budget into balance within 7 years.

  It was his refusal to commit to such a basic promise 6 days ago that, 
once again, led to a Government shutdown, this time idling a quarter of 
a million Federal employees. They, and the American people who are 
forced to pay the salaries of workers who are not allowed to work when 
the Government shuts down, ought to be furious that the President would 
let this happen, especially so close to the holidays.
  I hope that by opening the door to now legitimate budget 
negotiations, the President will sign an agreement reopening the 
Government and sending these people back to work immediately. As for 
the balanced budget plan itself, President Clinton was quoted this week 
as saying, ``I hope we can resolve this situation and give the American 
people their Government back by Christmas. We also should give them a 
balanced budget that reflects our values of opportunity, respecting our 
duty to our parents and our children, building strong communities and a 
strong America.''
  I could not agree more with the President, but it seems he is doing 
his Christmas shopping just a little late this year. By so far denying 
the American people the benefits of a balanced budget, he is making the 
goals that we share, those expanded opportunities, strong communities 
and a strong America, a lot more difficult to reach. Both the 
businesses lining Main Street and the Americans who spend their dollars 
in them are nervous, wondering if Washington is, once again, going to 
let them down.
  Monday's drop of more than 100 points in the stock market--and that 
is the worst drop in the market in 4 years--and yesterday's 50-point 
dive is a clear sign that a skittish business community is having real 
doubts that Washington is serious about ever balancing the Federal 
budget.
  That lack of a balanced budget is causing real economic hardship for 
American families, and individuals as well, because for the residents 
of my home State of Minnesota, the benefits that they would reap from 
our balanced budget legislation would be deep and it would be lasting.
  The statistics tell it all. In fact, if President Clinton had signed 
the Balanced Budget Act that we originally sent him last month, the 
average Minnesotan would be saving right now $2,600 a year from lower 
mortgage payments; over $1,000 over the life of a 4-year loan of a car 
worth $15,000; nearly $1,900 on the life of a 10-year student loan of 
about $11,000; and over $300 every year from lower State taxes due to 
lower State and local interest payments; and also, Mr. President, 
nearly $600 a year from lower interest payments on a student loan.

  If President Clinton had signed the Balanced Budget Act, Minnesota 
families would have received a tax credit as well, a tax credit that 
would have helped over 529,000 Minnesota taxpayers with over 1 million 
dependents. That is more than $477 million of their own money every 
year these working families would have been allowed to keep.
  The tax credit would have completely eliminated the Federal income 
tax bill for over 45,000 Minnesotans, and that is another $38 million 
every year that would stay with these working families.
  The tax credit would have paid for nearly 4 years of tuition at the 
University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus if the parents were able to 
bank the $500 per child tax credit for 18 years. Or the tax credit 
could have saved average Minnesota families enough to buy 3 months of 
groceries or make 1\1/2\ mortgage payments, or pay electric bills for 
11 months.
  Mr. President, the people are calling on this Congress, this 
President, to balance the budget because they have heard those same old 
statistics and it sounds pretty good to them. Of course, the other 
component of our budget plan is our $245 billion package of tax relief, 
and there are real concerns outside Washington that it, the centerpiece 
of our budget, may be negotiated away.
  I would like to show on the chart where we stand on tax relief 
compared to spending and how much has already been negotiated away over 
these last couple of months.
  We started out spending $11.2 trillion. That has grown to the latest 
Clinton budget of over $12.4 trillion. So spending has continued to 
increase under these budget plans.
  But at the same time, they continue to whittle away at the tax relief 
for Americans. It started out at $354 billion of tax relief over 7 
years in the House plan to $245 billion under the Senate plan and now 
the Clinton budget wants to cut this back to $78 billion, or even less.
  So we can see over months of negotiations which way they are headed. 
It is the same old scenario: More spending, but take it away from 
taxpayers, and less tax relief.
  I urge the budget negotiators to stand firm in their commitment to 
the taxpayers of this Nation to let them keep more of the dollars that 
we are routinely snatching out of their pockets. We need to stop 
Washington's nasty habit of taking money out of the checkbooks of 
taxpayers and putting them into the checkbooks of politicians.
  I remind my colleagues that $245 billion is a lot of money to the 
taxpayers 

[[Page S19074]]
who finance this Government, who pick up the tab for wasteful and often 
extravagant schemes that Congress is too often eager to throw dollars 
at. Mr. President, $245 billion means a tax credit of $500 per child 
for 55 million American families.

  It means cutting the capital gains tax so that farmers and other 
family businesses are not so badly penalized when it comes time to pass 
along their assets to another generation. It means eliminating the 
marriage penalty and ending the discrimination against those who take 
on the awesome responsibility of coming together as a family.
  It means creating an adoption credit that will, hopefully, bring more 
children into loving and nurturing homes.
  It means promoting savings by expanding individual retirement 
accounts.
  While $245 billion is a huge sum of money, it is just a small, 1.5 
percent, speck of the more than $12 trillion that Congress will spend 
over the next 7 years. Congress is not happy with 98.5 percent. They 
want 100 percent. They do not want the taxpayers to have even that 
small amount.
  Mr. President, if the Government is so addicted to spending that it 
will not survive without that 1.5 percent, well, that is a pretty 
strong commentary on the sorry state of things in Washington.
  Despite the protests of the President and some of my colleagues who 
will not give up a penny of the people's dollars without a fight, the 
Government will survive under our balanced budget plan. It will survive 
and the taxpayers will thrive. To be successful, this Congress, 
however, cannot give in.
  Mr. President, there is a movie that has become very popular during 
the holiday season. I believe it is so beloved because it shares a 
simple, moving message about the power that each of us has to 
profoundly influence our world.
  ``It's a Wonderful Life'' is the name of this film. It was played on 
television just last weekend, in fact, and I am certain that most all 
of my colleagues have watched it and take its message to heart.
  It is about a good man, George Bailey, who reaches a difficult point 
in his life and begins to question his very existence.
  With the help of his guardian angel, Clarence, George Bailey is given 
the opportunity to see the difference he would have been able to make 
in the lives of family, friends, and his neighbors in Bedford Falls, 
and it was a revelation, because he did not realize how much he had 
changed their lives forever.
  Mr. President, we have an opportunity in 1995 to forever change the 
lives of each and every American by passing a balanced budget.
  And we will not need a guardian angel to show us what we have 
accomplished, because 10 years from now, we will be able to see for 
ourselves, everywhere we look, the result of our dedication to this 
dream: more jobs, higher salaries, cheaper loans that make homes, 
schooling, and transportation more affordable. A better, stronger 
America for the future.
  The next 2 weeks will tell the story.
  Is 1995 going to mark the beginning of ``A Wonderful Life'' for 
America's children and grandchildren? Or just another ``Nightmare on 
Elm Street'' sequel?
  Congress and the President have the power to decide, and I urge them 
to put that power to work on behalf of all Americans and enact a 
balanced budget.
  I yield the floor.

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