[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           WE NEED TRUTH IN LENDING AND TRUTH IN LEGISLATING

  (Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I am very disappointed that so far in this 
Congress we have not yet seen any sincere effort to cut any spending. 
The latest ploy has been the Treasury report that claims the deficit is 
shrinking up to nothing. In the first 6 months of this year we are in 
deficit of $101 billion and this is claimed to be a victory, thus 
taking off the pressure to work harder to cut spending. How did they do 
this?
  The first thing we did was we sent the IRS agents out and hounded the 
American people and collected $28 billion more than they did in the 
first 6 months of the last fiscal year. But they did something else. 
They keep borrowing from the trust funds. They borrow from the Social 
Security fund, further jeopardizing that whole program. Looking at the 
statistics more carefully, they claim the deficit is $111, but during 
the past 12 months our national debt went up $241 billion. There is no 
way to predict what the next 6 months will bring. Interest rates may 
rise, revenues may dwindle if the markets and the economy slumps.
  I think that we ought to have some truth in lending and truth in 
legislating here by honestly telling the American people that there is 
something wrong here that could and should be adjusted with decreased 
spending, not raising taxes and not further robbing the Social Security 
trust fund.

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