[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 55 (Thursday, April 25, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           DEFICIT REDUCTION

                                 ______


                            HON. RON PACKARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 24, 1996

  Mr. PACKARD. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Appropriations 
Committee, I would like to take a moment to commend my Republican 
colleagues and Chairman Livingston for the tremendous progress made in 
returning fiscal responsibility to Washington.
  The Congressional Budget Office recently projected the 1996 budget 
deficit will fall to $144 billion. This is due to the commitment of the 
Republican led Congress to rein in unwieldy Federal spending. We have 
cut spending to its lowest level in 14 years. This means a $23 billion 
savings for American taxpayers over last year. In fact, my colleagues 
and I have saved taxpayers $43 billion since gaining control of the 
Congress in 1995.
  We have had to stand tough against the old, big spending culture of 
Washington. A great deal of credit must go to Chairman Livingston who 
has refused to raise spending caps or take spending off-budget. He 
insisted on finding offsets to pay for $1.3 billion in disaster aid, 
rather than adding to the deficit. In addition, my colleagues and I 
have reduced the Federal bureaucracy and eliminated wasteful programs.
  The Republican led Congress has continued to fulfill its promise to 
the American people. We put the brakes on out of control spending and 
produced the largest down turn in Federal spending in history. We will 
continue to make tough decisions and keep on our glidepath to a 
balanced budget.

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