[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 120 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9193-S9195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           A BALANCED BUDGET

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, the greatest difficulty I had during the 
August break was convincing the various newpaper editors I visited 
while traveling the State, that the budget was not balanced. Everywhere 
I went, they said that Congress had done its job, producing the first 
balanced budget since Lyndon Johnson's back in 1968-69. And I said that 
it was totally out of the whole cloth.
  Mr. President, I think of Mark Twain's famous observation. He said, 
``The truth is such a precious thing, it should be used very 
sparingly.'' Unfortunately, our media friends have been caught up in 
the politics and with the consultants in the polls and the truth goes 
unreported.
  I stated this on the floor when we debated the conference report to 
the budget resolution. I referred at that particular time to the report 
of Mr. Kasich from the committee of conference, submitted on June 4, 
1997.
  On page 4, I showed where, listed under ``Deficits,'' that under 
fiscal year 2002 a deficit of $108,300,000,000 was listed. It was 
listed with the exclusion of the Social Security surplus as required 
under section 13:301 of the Budget Act.
  Under that particular act that we passed in 1990, 98 Senators voted 
for it and President George Bush signed it into law. It said that you 
cannot report in the Congress nor shall the President submit a budget 
that includes the Social Security trust funds in the calculation of the 
budget deficit. We got this enacted into law, and today it is totally 
disregarded.
  I wish I could put in a criminal penalty. We could lock up the 
Congress. But the fact of the matter is, a criminal penalty for this 
already exists, the 1994 Pension Reform Act. This law was enacted to 
make sure that workers, with all this merger mania, could be sure that 
their pension funds would remain fiscally intact and safe from 
defraying company debt. Denny McLain, the famous Detroit pitcher, which 
the distinguished Chair should be very familiar with--is in jail today 
because he violated this law. Our great pitcher, McLain, was elected 
the chairman of a certain corporation where he used the pension fund to 
pay the debts. Earlier this year, Denny McLain was sentenced to 8 years 
in prison. Now, if you can find Denny, and what cell he is in, tell him 
he made a mistake. He should have run for the U.S. Senate instead of 
going into business, because instead of a prison term, what you get is 
a good Government award. The constant babble over the land in by all 
the talking heads, on the TV and the radio, is balance, balance, 
balance.
  Well, heavens above, this is exactly what is occurring today in the 
U.S. Senate. Even Mr. Kasich said that his submission was not a 
balanced budget. All you have to do is read and you will see the 
increase in the debt between the years 2001 and 2002. In 2002, instead 
of a balanced budget--you have a $173.9 billion deficit.
  So, I went to all the different newspaper editors, and I said, Wait 
until the Congressional Budget Office makes their estimate. It usually 
comes out in August but because of reconcilliation, it will come out in 
September this year. They finally submitted ``The Economic and Budget 
Outlook,'' in September 1997.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the table on page 34 be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                         Debt Subject to Limit

       As part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the Congress 
     increased the statutory limit on federal debt from $5.5 
     trillion to $5.95 trillion. That amount should be sufficient 
     until the summer of 2000. Even in the face of small deficits 
     and budget surpluses, though, the debt subject to limit will 
     continue to increase, thereby implying that the ceiling will 
     have to be raised in the future.
       Debt subject to limit far exceeds debt held by the public 
     (a much more useful measure of what the government owes), 
     mainly because it includes the holdings of the Social 
     Security, Medicare, and other government trust funds. The 
     Congressional Budget Office's projections of debt subject to 
     limit through 2007 are presented below. Because the size of 
     the trust fund surplus dwarfs the projected total budget 
     surpluses after 2002, debt subject to limit continues to rise 
     throughout the projection period.

                                                 BASELINE PROJECTIONS OF DEBT SUBJECT TO STATUTORY LIMIT                                                
                                                        [By fiscal year, in billions of dollars]                                                        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              1997      1998      1999      2000      2001      2002      2003      2004      2005      2006      2007  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debt Subject to Limit, Start of Year......     5,137     5,314     5,525     5,751     5,979     6,179     6,339     6,513     6,674     6,834     6,996
                                           =============================================================================================================
Changes:                                                                                                                                                
  Deficit.................................        34        57        52        48        36       -32       -13       -29       -36       -72       -86
  Trust fund surplus......................       112       130       153       159       143       171       168       172       179       218       178
  Other changes \1\.......................        31        24        21        21        20        22        19        18        17        15        17
                                           -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.................................       177       210       226       228       199       161       174       161       160       162       110
                                           =============================================================================================================
Debt Subject to Limit, End of Year........     5,314     5,525     5,751     5,979     6,179     6,339     6,513     6,674     6,834     6,996     7,106
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Primarily changes in Treasury cash balances, investments by government funds (such as the Bank Insurance Fund) that are not trust funds, and        
  activity of the credit financing accounts.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                        
Source: Congressional Budget Office.                                                                                                                    

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Let us cite that table.
  Here they have what they all like to call under the euphemism, a 
``unified deficit.'' Here they just use the word ``deficit.'' They are 
very clever because they do not want to get in controversy with that 
particular section, 13:301. So CBO says: ``Deficit for 1997, $34 
billion.'' This is what everybody is crowing about. But--but--Mr. 
President, trust fund surpluses. You see under the moneys there, and 
other changes, other short-falls there, that there is veritably $143 
billion used, spent, in order to make the deficit appear to be only $34 
billion. The truth is, and actually listed in this document now by CBO, 
is a deficit of $177 billion for fiscal 1997. And extrapolating it out 
for 1998, the actual deficit is $210 billion; 1999, $226 billion; the 
year 2000, $228 billion; the year 2001, $199 billion; and the year 
2002, $161 billion.
  There you are, Mr. President. The Congressional Budget Office has not 
estimated a balanced budget. And no one else in his right mind has 
estimated a balanced budget except for the political dissembling over 
the land, in the editorial columns, and in the news reports, ``balance, 
balance, balance,'' because what they've got up here this consultant 
thing to get our ``message, message, message'' out. If you say it 
enough, they will believe anything.
  The truth is--the truth is--that we are going to expand the debt by 
over $1 trillion in the next 5 years, Mr. President. Now, let me say 
something about a soaring debt. When debt increases, interest increase. 
Everybody around here is saying, ``I'm cutting taxes, cutting taxes,'' 
when in essence they are increasing taxes. There are two kinds of 
taxes. One tax, of course, is like a school tax, where in my home 
State, South Carolina, all the sales tax goes to the public school 
system, or gasoline taxes which go to highway construction. Those are 
what you call win taxes--you win something for paying those taxes.

  The second kind of tax is the waste tax. An example of this is the 
interest costs on the national debt. You do not win anything. It is 
absolute waste. This goes up, up, and away to the tune now in the last 
several years, of at least $15 billion, and it is going up more every 
day. The actual estimated amount for this particular fiscal year which 
will end in a couple of weeks' time, at the end of September, is $358 
billion. That is the CBO estimate. That is almost $1

[[Page S9194]]

billion a day for nothing. I ask unanimous consent that ``Hollings 
Budget Realities'' be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                           HOLLINGS' BUDGET REALITIES                                           
                                            [In billions of dollars]                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                        Annual  
                                                                Unified       Actual                  Increases 
        President and year          U.S. Budget    Borrowed     Deficit      Deficit      National   in Spending
                                        \1\      Trust Funds   With Trust    Without        Debt         for    
                                                                 Funds     Trust Funds                 Interest 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Truman:                                                                                                         
  1945............................         92.7          5.4        -47.6  ...........        260.1  ...........
  1946............................         55.2         -5.0        -15.9        -10.9        271.0  ...........
  1947............................         34.5         -9.9          4.0        +13.9        257.1  ...........
  1948............................         29.8          6.7         11.8         +5.1        252.0  ...........
  1949............................         38.8          1.2          0.6         -0.6        252.6  ...........
  1950............................         42.6          1.2         -3.1         -4.3        256.9  ...........
  1951............................         45.5          4.5          6.1         +1.6        255.3  ...........
  1952............................         67.7          2.3         -1.5         -3.8        259.1  ...........
  1953............................         76.1          0.4         -6.5         -6.9        266.0  ...........
Eisenhower:                                                                                                     
  1954............................         70.9          3.6         -1.2         -4.8        270.8  ...........
  1955............................         68.4          0.6         -3.0         -3.6        274.4  ...........
  1956............................         70.6          2.2          3.9         +1.7        272.7  ...........
  1957............................         76.6          3.0          3.4         +0.4        272.3  ...........
  1958............................         82.4          4.6         -2.8         -7.4        279.7  ...........
  1959............................         92.1         -5.0        -12.8         -7.8        287.5  ...........
  1960............................         92.2          3.3          0.3         -3.0        290.5  ...........
  1961............................         97.7         -1.2         -3.3         -2.1        292.6  ...........
Kennedy:                                                                                                        
  1962............................        106.8          3.2         -7.1        -10.3        302.9          9.1
  1963............................        111.3          2.6         -4.8         -7.4        310.3          9.9
Johnson:                                                                                                        
  1964............................        118.5         -0.1         -5.9         -5.8        316.1         10.7
  1965............................        118.2          4.8         -1.4         -6.2        322.3         11.3
  1966............................        134.5          2.5         -3.7         -6.2        328.5         12.0
  1967............................        157.5          3.3         -8.6        -11.9        340.4         13.4
  1968............................        178.1          3.1        -25.2        -28.3        368.7         14.6
  1969............................        183.6          0.3          3.2         +2.9        365.8         16.6
Nixon:                                                                                                          
  1970............................        195.6         12.3         -2.8        -15.1        380.9         19.3
  1971............................        210.2          4.3        -23.0        -27.3        408.2         21.0
  1972............................        230.7          4.3        -23.4        -27.7        435.9         21.8
  1973............................        245.7         15.5        -14.9        -30.4        466.3         24.2
  1974............................        269.4         11.5         -6.1        -17.6        483.9         29.3
Ford:                                                                                                           
  1975............................        332.3          4.8        -53.2        -58.0        541.9         32.7
  1976............................        371.8         13.4        -73.7        -87.1        629.0         37.1
Carter:                                                                                                         
  1977............................        409.2         23.7        -53.7        -77.4        706.4         41.9
  1978............................        458.7         11.0        -59.2        -70.2        776.6         48.7
  1979............................        503.5         12.2        -40.7        -52.9        829.5         59.9
  1980............................        590.9          5.8        -73.8        -79.6        909.1         74.8
Reagan:                                                                                                         
  1981............................        678.2          6.7        -79.0        -85.7        994.8         95.5
  1982............................        745.8         14.5       -128.0       -142.5      1,137.3        117.2
  1983............................        808.4         26.6       -207.8       -234.4      1,371.7        128.7
  1984............................        851.8          7.6       -185.4       -193.0      1,564.7        153.9
  1985............................        946.4         40.5       -212.3       -252.8      1,817.5        178.9
  1986............................        990.3         81.9       -221.2       -303.1      2,120.6        190.3
  1987............................      1,003.9         75.7       -149.8       -225.5      2,346.1        195.3
  1988............................      1,064.1        100.0       -155.2       -255.2      2,601.3        214.1
Bush:                                                                                                           
  1989............................      1,143.2        114.2       -152.5       -266.7      2,868.3        240.9
  1990............................      1,252.7        117.4       -221.2       -338.6      3,206.6        264.7
  1991............................      1,323.8        122.5       -269.4       -391.9      3,598.5        285.5
  1992............................      1,380.9        113.2       -290.4       -403.6      4,002.1        292.3
Clinton:                                                                                                        
  1993............................      1,408.2         94.3       -255.0       -349.3      4,351.4        292.5
  1994............................      1,460.6         89.2       -203.1       -292.3      4,643.7        296.3
  1995............................      1,514.6        113.4       -163.9       -277.3      4,921.0        332.4
  1996............................      1,560.0        154.0       -107.0       -261.0      5,182.0        344.0
  1997............................      1,612.0        143.0        -34.0       -177.0      5,359.0        358.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Outlays.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                
 Note: Historical Tables, Budget of the U.S. Government FY 1998: Beginning in 1962 CBO's 1997 Economic and      
  Budget Outlook.                                                                                               

  Mr. HOLLINGS. When is this crowd going to wake up around here? The 
interest cost was less than $75 billion when Mr. Reagan came to town 
and promised to balance the budget in 1 year. We had less than $1 
trillion debt. Now we have a $5.3 trillion debt--quadruple the debt 
since that time. We are spending about $283 billion more a year today 
in interest costs than that particular day 17 years ago.
  Now, if I had that $283 billion, I would get all the highways built, 
I would get all the research at NIH, I would put in all the money at 
Head Start. With all of these amendments, we are spending the money but 
not getting the government. We are proving with this cut taxes, cut 
taxes, cut taxes that we are incompetent up here.
  Now, Mr. President, I had hoped at that particular time, since the 
economy was going well and we have had lower deficits each year for the 
last 5 years under President Clinton, that we would stay the course, 
not have any tax cuts, not have any spending increases. But this hope 
was defeated.
  Instead, Mr. President, we passed what? We passed a $52 billion 
increase in spending and cut the revenues $95 billion and call it 
balanced. How can you increase spending, lower your revenues, and get 
to a balanced budget? Of course, it is obvious--you cannot. That is why 
you have the $177 billion deficit this particular fiscal year and 
instead of a balanced budget in the year 2002, we have a $161 billion 
deficit.
  Interestingly, this assumes that by the year 2000--you will have a 
deficit of $228 billion, an almost $70 billion decrease in a 2-year 
period. The cuts are back-loaded. That is the smoke and mirrors.
  Everyone is talking about balance, talking about baby boomers, 
talking about Social Security, which is in the black and balanced. But 
we are not paying for defense, we are not paying for education, we are 
not paying for Senators' pay, we are not paying for Head Start, we are 
not paying for foreign aid, we are not paying for the general 
Government expenses, and we come around here and we say, ``Now what we 
need is tax cuts to buy the election next year.''
  Mr. President, they have a big hearing going on about campaign 
financing. The biggest campaign finance violation is the Federal budget 
scam of a balanced budget and cutting taxes. We are

[[Page S9195]]

using this budget scam to reelect ourselves. This is what ought to be 
investigated. This is a public hearing. I hope C-SPAN is covering it. I 
hope everyone is listening right now, because this is how we buy the 
votes. I am not worried whether I get from a PAC contribution of $1,000 
or $2,000 The country of Japan has over 100 lawyers here, paid over 
$113 million to lobby us, the Congress. I need not tell you that this 
is significantly more than the pay of the 535 Members of Congress. I am 
not worried about those things. What I am worried about is the campaign 
financing fraud scam that is going on on the floor of the national 
Congress. We're all running around here hollering, ``balance,'' and our 
good friends, the Concord Coalition, is yelling ``entitlements, 
entitlements.'' They have not yet faced the reality.
  My friend, David Broder, says I have gotten to be a nuisance on this 
subject. I wonder why the truth has become a nuisance in Washington?

                          ____________________