[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 10 (Thursday, January 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INCREASE IN DEBT CEILING MUST BE LINKED TO BALANCED BUDGET COMMITMENT
(Mr. WELDON of Florida asked and was given permission to address the
House for 1 minute.)
Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the President the other night
asked for a clean increase in the debt ceiling. Prior to coming to
Congress, I was a practicing physician. I treated a lot of people with
not only medical problems, but also with some psychological and
emotional problems. One of the things that I did occasionally see is
people with serious gambling problems, and the last thing that I would
ever recommend for a bank to do would be to give somebody with a
gambling problem a line of credit.
Mr. Speaker, we have a President that does not want to balance the
budget. He has fought us on balancing the budget, he has fought us on
welfare reform, he has fought us on tax cuts, even though he cannot pay
for all of those things; and now he wants us to give a clean increase
in the debt ceiling so that he can go on his merry way with liberal
tax-and-spend programs, the programs that have driven this country
almost into bankruptcy, 5 trillion dollars' worth of debt, $18,000 for
every man, woman, and child.
Mr. Speaker, if we are going to increase the debt ceiling, we need to
get on the road to balancing the budget and not fairy tale stories
about balancing the budget, not saying that we support the balanced
budget and then opposing it for the last year, like he has.
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