[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 57 (Tuesday, May 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SUPPORT BIPARTISAN BALANCED BUDGET AGREEMENT

  (Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Thomas Jefferson was an enemy 
of deficit spending. In fact, he was so hostile to the idea that 
Government could saddle future generations with debt that he considered 
deficit spending a moral evil. He once wrote:

       We shall consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle 
     posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them 
     ourselves; and consequently within what may be deemed the 
     period of a generation, or the life of the majority.

  Well, we have ignored the words of Thomas Jefferson for too long. 
America is over $5 trillion in debt. Our children and grandchildren 
have been saddled with a debt that they did not create. We think that 
is wrong. In fact we think it goes against everything America stands 
for. The American dream means leaving a legacy of opportunity to our 
children and grandchildren, not $5 trillion in debt.
  Let us heed the words of Thomas Jefferson and support the bipartisan 
balanced budget agreement.

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