[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 108 (Monday, July 28, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5829-H5830]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BALANCING THE BUDGET

  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, the most important thing that we can do 
for our children and their children is to balance the Federal budget. 
Unfortunately, I fear that we will snatch defeat from the jaws of 
victory by enacting expensive new tax cuts before the budget is 
actually balanced.
  Mr. Speaker, it is clear to me that the best tax cut we can give to 
the American people is to balance the Federal budget. It has been shown 
that by balancing the budget we can stimulate economic growth and 
reduce interest rates on everything from home mortgages to car loans. 
Keeping these considerations in mind, I firmly believe that we must 
resist the destructive idea of granting tax cuts at this time.
  There is little question that we have made tremendous progress in 
reducing the deficit in the past 5 years. From a record high of $290 
billion in 1992, projections cited last week indicate that the deficit 
may fall below $45 billion by the end of this year.
  Unfortunately, this body missed a golden opportunity last week to 
make sure that we would finally reach a balanced budget by the year 
2002. By rejecting a commonsense measure that would have applied 
enforcement procedures to the budget resolution, both parties put other 
interests above that of balancing the budget. This raises serious 
questions about a real willingness to make the tough choices needed to 
get us to a balanced budget.
  Given the failure of the House to enact enforcement legislation, it 
is now more important than ever to keep our eyes on the goal of 
balancing the budget and finishing the job. Achieving this goal can 
only happen one step at a time. The first step should be to reduce 
spending by reforming entitlement programs.
  With America's population aging and people living longer, the number 
of beneficiaries in programs such as Medicare is growing much faster 
than the working population. For this reason, Medicare and other 
entitlement programs are projected to run out of money early in the 
next century unless we make basic reforms to these programs right now.
  Secondly, if no changes are made to Medicare and other spending 
programs, all the progress we have made in reducing the deficit will be 
in vain.
  It should also be pointed out that the enormous growth of entitlement 
spending is threatening the discretionary programs that allow us to 
invest in the future of this country. Estimates from the Congressional 
Budget Office show that by the year 2002 mandatory spending will 
consume 70 percent of the Federal budget.
  We depend on discretionary programs for building roads, putting more 
police officers on the street, and making our economy more productive. 
We must use the opportunity before us to slow the growth of mandatory 
spending and achieve a more sustainable balance.
  While cutting spending is the first step in balancing the budget, I 
believe we will take a giant leap backward if we compound our current 
fiscal problems by granting significant new tax cuts that will increase 
the deficit. Studies show that the cost of the tax bill approved by the 
House on June 26 is heavily backloaded, hiding the bill's true cost and 
threatening to unbalance

[[Page H5830]]

the budget shortly after it is designed to be balanced.
  It is clear to me that many Members of this body are only interested 
in using the balanced budget debate as a pretense to grant expensive 
new tax cuts. We are now so close to finally balancing the budget, it 
makes absolutely no sense to me to start moving in the opposite 
direction with tax measures that will drive up the deficit.
  If we would simply pass the spending reforms called for by this 
year's budget resolution, and do no harm by enacting new tax cuts, we 
would balance the budget before the end of the century and achieve a 
surplus of at least $20 billion in the year 2002. This, I believe, is 
the wisest course of action because it allows us to invest for the 
future needs of this country, and ensure that we do not produce a 
budget that is a 1-year wonder, balancing in the year 2002, but 
becoming unbalanced shortly thereafter.
  Mr. Speaker, now more than ever it is imperative that Members of both 
parties, along with the President, come together in a unified effort. 
We must take this opportunity to pass meaningful entitlement reform, 
hold off on granting expensive tax cuts until we can afford them, and 
keep our promise to balance the budget once and for all.

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