[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 40 (Tuesday, April 8, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S2808]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I would like to mention two additional 
items very quickly. One is an issue that has just been discussed at 
some length on the floor about a budget and tax relief. My hope is that 
we will find a way to have a bipartisan compromise on a budget. The law 
requires that by April 15 a budget be enacted by this Congress. It is 
clear now that the Congress will miss that date. But the date is less 
important than the result. The result ought to be a budget that 
achieves balance so we are not spending our children's money, often on 
things we do not need.
  We ought to decide that there is as much energy in this Chamber to 
balance the budget as there was to change the Constitution of the 
United States. I said during the debate on the constitutional provision 
that was offered here that you could change the Constitution now, and 2 
minutes from now you would not have altered the deficit by one penny. 
What will alter the budget deficit and eventually eliminate the budget 
deficit will be individual spending and taxing decisions inside the 
budget by Members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House. I think it is past 
the time in which the President and Members of Congress, Republicans 
and Democrats, join together to say here is where we ought to head and 
here is the road map by which we get there, to establish balance.
  I have cast hard votes and tough votes. In 1993 I cast an awfully 
tough vote. We have reduced the budget deficit by 60 percent in the 
last 4 years. If we continue down that road, we can eliminate the 
Federal budget deficit, and we should. I am willing to cast more tough 
votes, and I hope very much we can decide this is not a partisan issue 
but rather a shared issue for Republicans and Democrats who decide that 
there is merit and virtue in balancing this Federal budget and not 
charging what we are now spending to our kids and grandkids.

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