[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 23, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5582-H5583]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET PLAN IS NEITHER BALANCED NOR FAIR

  (Mr. EDWARDS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, I believe there should be two goals that 
drive any budget plan in this Congress. One is balancing the budget in 
the short-term and in the long-term, and second is fairness.

[[Page H5583]]

  I believe that anyone that looks at the Republican proposal as of 
today would conclude that their plan fails on both parts. It unbalances 
the budget, and it is unfair. In fact, the Republican tax plan should 
be called the Unbalanced Budget Act, because like the mistakes of 1981, 
when Congress exploded the deficit with specified tax cuts and 
unspecified spending cuts, this plan would provide huge tax cuts not 
balanced by any spending cuts. This would be the Unbalanced budget Act.
  On the issue of fairness, I would simply say that trickle-down 
economics was unfair in the 1980's, and trickle-down economics is 
unfair in the 1990's. The fact is that the gap between working low-
income and middle-class American families and the wealthiest Americans 
has increased. The Republican tax plan would make that situation even 
more unfair.

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