[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     FOCUS ON BALANCING THE BUDGET

  (Mr. McINNIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, while I appreciate the gentleman's cute 
props and while I appreciate my colleague's earlier statements about 
the child that was crying, certainly we divert from the primary issue 
here, and that is to balance the budget for the Federal Government and 
focus on some short-term hardships.
  We understand there are hardships out there. I have got a program 
that I am going to talk about on a 5-minute special order on how we can 
help on some of those, but do not let us lose focus on the most 
important issue facing this country in generations, and that is to 
balance this budget, to control Government spending. Remember, right 
now this Government spends $30 million an hour more than it brings in, 
and if you want to talk about an impact on the children and the future 
of this country, it is handing them this credit card, the congressional 
voting card, which is accumulating that kind of debt. That is what is 
going to break the backbone of this country.
  We can focus on these short-term hardships. We can do something about 
it. But until we address the long-term problem, we are not going to get 
anywhere.

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