[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 3 (Friday, January 5, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN SUPPORT OF THE COALITION BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hastert). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Taylor] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I apologize to the staff, who 
I know I am keeping late. I hope what I say is worth hearing to the 
American people.
  If you have been listening to the budget debate, you have heard 
Member after Member talk about reducing the deficit, and it is not so, 
folks, and the Congressional Budget Office has scored the plan put 
forward by the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Kasich] for next year, the only 
year that this Congress could really vote on, because we are only 
elected for 2 years at a time.
  The truth of the matter is that the budget by the gentleman from Ohio 
[Mr. Kasich], as introduced, would increase the annual operating 
deficit of this Nation from $236 to $270 billion, and hidden in there 
is the theft of about $100 billion from the trust funds that people pay 
into when you pay your FICA taxes, your social security taxes. That is 
not a plan to balance the budget. You do not balance the budget by 
taking your first step backwards.
  There is a plan to balance the budget. It was put together by a group 
of people, mostly conservative Democrats, but some of them are now 
Republicans. It is called the Coalition budget. When compared to the 
Kasich budget, it would save this Nation $33 billion in the first 2 
years and $53 billion in the first 3 years, the years that really 
count, the years where you can presume Members of Congress who are now 
Members of Congress will be around to live by it to make sure it works 
rather than saying someone 7 years from now is going to do what this 
Congress would not do.
  Unfortunately, Speaker Gingrich has now twice ruled that the Members 
of this body cannot even vote on this measure. But there is something 
that can be done about it. There is a discharge petition where Members 
of this body, if 218 Members of this body will go down and sign it, 
then we can vote on the Coalition budget. We can get to a balanced 
budget quicker. We can do it with less pain and less borrowing, and to 
tell you the effect of the borrowing is every 2 minutes in this Nation 
we have to go out and borrow a million dollars just to pay the interest 
on the national debt, every 2 minutes, $1 million in interest payments 
on the national debt.

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. SKELTON. As a supporter of the Democratic Coalition conservation 
budget, there were an awful lot of people that did vote for it, and it 
is looking better and better every day.
  I would like for you to explain what you touched on a moment ago 
about the larger deficit on the operating expenses, please.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Well, again, the American people, and I do 
not think the press explains this very well, there are two things we 
are dealing with. No. 1 is the accumulated debt over many years, where 
the Nation spent more money than it collected in taxes. That is $5 
trillion. Until we will get to the balanced budget, every year they are 
spending more money than they are collecting in taxes, and that is the 
annual operating deficit. The annual operating deficit under the Kasich 
budget, as approved by the majority of the Republicans in the House, 
will borrow $270 billion for this fiscal year.
  Mr. SKELTON. In other words, it is going to cost the Americans more?
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. It will cost the Americans more. And they 
keep saying they have a 7-year plan to balance the budget, but the 
first step is a step backward, not a step toward balancing the budget, 
a step toward larger deficit.
  Mr. SKELTON. The budget I voted for, the Democratic Coalition budget, 
does not do that? Is that correct?
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. The Coalition budget is a step in the 
right direction. It would not borrow as much. Both of them, 
unfortunately, borrow money for the first year. It borrows less money, 
and cumulatively it borrows less, $50 billion less than the Republican 
plan.


                         tribute to brett favre

  On a much lighter note, I am going to brag on a fine young man from 
the State of Mississippi, from a community that I doubt is even on the 
map, who last week was voted the most valuable player in the NFL, a 
young man by the name of Brett Favre, who is the most deserving of that 
of any American I can think of. His mom and dad are public school 
teachers back in south Mississippi. His dad was his high school 
football coach.
  He went on and played for the University of Southern Mississippi. By 
sheer hard work and determination, he has been recognized as the finest 
football player in the United States of America. It could not happen to 
a nicer family. It could not happen to a nicer guy.
  Congratulations, Brett Favre.

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