[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 55 (Thursday, April 25, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  BALANCED BUDGET DOWN PAYMENT ACT, II

                                 ______


                               speech of

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 7, 1996

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3019) making 
     appropriations for fiscal year 1996 to make a further 
     downpayment toward a balanced budget, and for other purposes:

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, the bill we are voting on 
today represents a sensible, humane path to a balanced budget. This 
bill preserves vital Federal programs, but also cuts unnecessary 
Federal spending.
  The purpose of balancing the budget is not to make accountants sleep 
easier at night. Holding the line on spending is about getting our 
priorities straightened out. And it also keeps our commitment to create 
jobs and increase opportunities. The whole point of cutting the budget 
deficit is about creating economic opportunity and a better future. 
It's about lowering interest rates, spurring investment, and securing 
and creating more, better paying jobs.
  This bill protects the Federal role and pledge to those who truly 
need help, and makes sure that their needs will not be ignored. It 
keeps our commitment to our veterans, $400 million in additional funds 
for health care; to children in Heathy Start, $93 million; and 
education programs for the disadvantaged, $7.2 billion; it boosts 
funding to $738 million for the Ryan White CARE Act to help people 
suffering from AIDS; and includes $1.34 billion for job and vocational 
training programs. It also keeps our commitment to seniors, especially 
older workers in Older Americans Act jobs programs, $373 million.
  Equally important, this bill pares back spending by $23 billion. It 
eliminates some 200 separate programs, many of them wasteful or 
duplicative. In the era of a $5 trillion dollar debt, we simply cannot 
afford to spend $18.4 million on the Office of Technology Assessment, 
$12.5 million for cattle tick eradication programs, and $850,000 for 
historical society calendars for Members of Congress.
  This bill has shown that even in the absence of a comprehensive 
agreement over how best to reform Medicare and Medicaid, we can still 
make progress on the budget.
  What is not highlighted in the media is that fact that below the 
surface of these highly visible budget battles, Congress has been able 
to cut these duplicative and unnecessary Government programs and 
regulations through the annual appropriations process. Our progress 
since 1994 has been to cut $43 billion from the deficit.
  The Congressional Budget Office's latest fiscal year 1996 deficit 
estimates are lower than expected--down to $144 billion, from a level 
almost $200 billion in 1994. And that decline is in large measure the 
result of Republican votes to put our Government on a diet.
  Through careful and judicious cuts, we have changed the entire debate 
in Washington. When President Clinton submitted his 1993 budget, taxes 
were raised retroactively. The question now is not if we should balance 
the budget, but how and when.
  Of course, the devil is the details. Raising taxes may be a favorite 
of the President's, but I am committed to holding the line on spending 
and taxes, setting firm priorities in spending, and keeping the 
commitments we made to our constituents.
  I think it is worth noting here that H.R. 3019 leaves H.R. 2099--the 
VA/HUD appropriations bill which Mr. Clinton vetoed on December 8, 
1995--virtually unchanged.
  Keep in mind that this is the same congressional budget which the VA 
Secretary called ``mean spirited''. Now we find that this so-called 
mean spirited budget--which includes a nearly $400,000,000 increase in 
VA health spending over fiscal year 1995 levels--was really perfectly 
acceptable to the President all along. After 7 months of leaving the VA 
without an appropriation, we find that the President had no major 
problem with what Congress originally passed.
  I think, however, that in the end, all sides of the budget debate can 
hopefully draw some useful lessons from the bill. Here we have a bill 
that lowers the deficit and puts us ahead of schedule on discretionary 
spending. And it was done without the Government shutting down, but by 
rolling up our sleeves and making the tough choices.

                          ____________________