[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 16, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S3408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   INCREASING THE FEDERAL DEBT LIMIT

 Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I wanted to express my concern over 
the increase in the public debt limit which occurred under a unanimous-
consent agreement on the Thursday before the Easter recess. Having 
earlier expressed in a letter to the Republican leadership my intention 
to oppose an increase in the debt limit if it was not directly 
connected to a balanced budget. I believe this unanimous-consent 
agreement hangs over this Congress like a black cloud, marking a dark 
day for the American taxpayers.
  The Congress had done the hard work of putting together a balanced 
budget that would have put this Nation on the glidepath to eliminating 
the deficit. Furthermore, it represented our best hope for tackling our 
$5 trillion debt.
  Yet the President carelessly vetoed the bill and its key reforms 
which would have restored solvency to our Medicare System and ended 
welfare as we know it. All the while, he has sat at the other end of 
Pennsylvania Avenue, clamoring for more spending.
  Mr. President, I believe yesterday's vote was a white flag of 
surrender, and a retreat on our pledge to protect the American 
taxpayers. Nothing in this bill ensures any progress will be made with 
this Administration in attempting to reach a balanced budget agreement.
  Instead, we promised this President we would increase the credit 
limit on the Nation's charge card by $600 billion--an amount the 
Congressional Budget Office estimates will be exceeded by next summer. 
And what did the taxpayers receive in return? The promise of bigger 
government, a bigger debt, and more of the status quo.
  I will acknowledge that the bill did contain two riders which I have 
supported. The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act is 
similar to a measure I had supported earlier this month. And as a 
cosponsor of the Senior Citizens' Right to Work Act, I had advocated 
passage of this bill earlier this year. But I do not believe seniors or 
small business should be held hostage to an increase in the debt limit. 
Unfortunately, they were used to mask the fact that yesterday's vote 
dragged us deeper into financial chaos.
  While the Federal Government's impending financial crisis may have 
been averted by this debt limit increase, the President must understand 
that our action does not absolve him of his responsibility in derailing 
the first real balanced budget produced by a Congress in over 25 years. 
Given that track record, we cannot allow another increase to occur 
without the enactment of a balanced budget plan. The Nation's credit 
card is ready to snap under the heavy load we have already heaped upon 
it--the American taxpayers are no longer willing to shoulder that 
burden. 

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