[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 14 (Thursday, February 1, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H1205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2145
                     THE VALUE OF A BALANCED BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Metcalf). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Tiahrt] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, clearly we are having a very difficult time 
achieving a balanced budget. After taking the brunt of opinion from the 
liberal media, this Congress has been wondering why the President has 
vetoed so many reforms.
  As a freshman, I ran on the principle of sound fiscal policy and a 
balanced budget, and as a part-time college instructor at Kansas Newman 
College, I taught the value of a balanced budget in economics classes. 
It was confirmed by the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan 
Greenspan: A balanced budget means a stronger economy. It means more 
jobs. It means more money in the pockets of working people.
  But the President is staunch in defending the status quo, in 
defending big government and preventing Congress from right-sizing the 
Federal Government, which must happen if we ever hope to balance the 
budget. Instead, he is protecting big government waste.
  For example, there is Clinton's Secretary of Energy, who is a 
congenital flier. Secretary O'Leary traveled more than 100 trips, 16 
overseas. She has leased Madonna's luxury jet, taking some of those 
trips. The Government Accounting Office audited two of the overseas 
trips. They cost $1.7 million and there are $255,000 of expenses that 
are unaccounted for.
  When you consider Travelgate, where the White House fired Billy Dale 
and seven other employees and drag Mr. Dale through the court system 
for 2 years over $18,000, it seems inconsistent that we would allow 
Secretary O'Leary to go without accounting for that quarter of a 
million dollars.
  And then there is Clinton's Secretary of Commerce, out-of-town Brown. 
His travel budget is 150 percent of his predecessor's, Robert 
Mosbacher. As reported in the Washington Times, an audit by a 
Department inspector general said, and I quote:

       In Mr. Brown's case, the auditors found the Secretary seems 
     to have been habitually accompanied by a slew of private-
     sector deadbeats masquerading as consultants who collectively 
     still owe the government, that is, the taxpayers, $360,000 
     for unpaid advances.

  Going on, it says,

       One wonders whether any of them were the same Democratic 
     Party fat cats who routinely accompanied Mr. Brown around 
     the world, grabbing their slice of the pie to which they 
     no doubt felt entitled by virtue of their huge donations 
     to the Democratic National Committee before, during and 
     after Mr. Brown's tenure as chairman of the Democratic 
     Party.

  That article goes on to talk about how the Inspector General 
uncovered unpaid charges on government credit cards. Three hundred 
Commerce Department employees were delinquent on their payments on 
government credit cards. Six hundred people, some of them not even 
government employees, who have government credit cards, were using the 
government credit cards at automatic teller machines, ATM's, to get 
cash.
  Can you imagine what it is like for taxpayers like David Walker, who 
works the second shift at the Boeing Company? How long does he have to 
stand at his machine to pay enough taxes to cover the cash that has 
been withdrawn at the Commerce Department?
  Those dollars were very much wasted. How long are we going to put up 
with this? I think we have put up with it for too long. I hope that the 
President will stop defending this tremendous waste, stop condoning 
this tremendous waste, stop defending and condoning the status quo, 
balance the budget. Our families do not deserve this type of treatment.

                          ____________________