[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10325-H10326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       BUMBLEBEE BRIGADE FLIES ON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, experts tell us that the bumblebee should 
not be able to fly. They tell us that the bee's body is too heavy and 
its wings are too small. Washington experts, with similar assuredness, 
told us that the budget could not be balanced, entitlements were too 
large, taxes were too low. Experts can be wrong.
  Just a few years ago, the experts said that the Republicans could not 
take control of Congress. It had not been done, after all, in 40 years. 
Well, the voters proved them wrong in 1994, when they sent a new 
majority here to Washington. I was a member of that new class of 
representatives, that I like to call the Bumblebee Brigade, because we 
did not know what we could not do.
  As we reach the end of this session of Congress, let us see how the 
hive is doing. In 1995, Republicans swarmed onto Capitol Hill with the 
promise to reform Congress and vote on 10 historic bills within our 
first 100 days. We called that promise the Contract with America. The 
experts told us that we were too ambitious and that it could not be 
done. Instead of listening to them, we kept our promises, and today 
almost all of that Contract has been signed into law.
  Those same experts told us that we could not reform welfare. Well, 
once again, they were wrong. We passed the Personal Responsibility and 
Work Opportunity Act last summer. By converting much of the program 
into block grants and requiring work, we have nudged more than one 
million families off welfare rolls and onto payrolls. Today we are 
saving money. But more importantly, Mr. Speaker, we are saving people.
  The critics told us we could not cut taxes while we were balancing 
the budget. On this issue, too, they were wrong. This summer, we passed 
the Taxpayer Relief Act, providing American families with their first 
tax cut in 16 years. We also encouraged investment and savings by 
slashing capital gains taxes by more than 30 percent.
  Despite this, the experts have continued to criticize this Republican 
Congress. But as John Adams said, ``Facts are stubborn things.'' The 
truth sometimes stings. The critics say that ``business as usual'' is 
still the rule on Capitol Hill and nothing has changed

[[Page H10326]]

in the last 2\1/2\ years. The facts say otherwise. We cut congressional 
committee staffs by one-third, passed term limits for the Speaker of 
the House and committee chairmen, opened congressional hearings to the 
public, forced Congress to get a three-fifths vote before hiking taxes, 
and made it live by the laws it passes. And that was all done on just 
the first day of the 104th Congress.
  Shortly thereafter, we cut congressional spending by 10 percent, 
banned lobbyists from giving gifts to Members of Congress, and 
rescinded more than $9 billion in 1995 spending agreed to under the old 
majority.
  Critics say that Government spending has not changed since 1995. The 
fact is that in the 7 years before the GOP Congress, Government 
spending grew by an average of 5.3 percent per year. In the last 2 
years, however, spending has grown by an average of only 3.1 percent. 
In the 20 years before a GOP majority, Congress spent an average of 
$1.21 for every dollar it took in. Today that number is $1.01.
  The critics have been especially rough on our balanced budget 
agreement, saying that it does too little to entitlement programs and 
assumes a future of tall clover, balancing the budget with rosy 
economic forecasts. The fact is that Government spending slows the rate 
of growth of entitlement spending by over $400 billion over the next 10 
years. Rather than relying on pie-in-the-sky economics, the agreement 
actually assumes that the economy, which has been growing at an average 
of 2.7 percent in the last 5 years, will actually slow down and grow by 
only 2.1 percent over the next 5 years.
  The critics say that we have gotten off track in our plan to balance 
the budget. Once again, they were wrong. In our 7-year balanced budget 
plan, we estimated that we would collect about $1.43 trillion in 
revenue in 1996 and $1.45 trillion in 1997. Similarly, we projected 
spending $1.59 trillion in 1996 and $1.62 trillion in 1997. Because of 
the strong economy, however, we have actually taken in $149 billion 
more than we expected. And the sweeter news is that in the last 2 years 
we have actually spent $48 billion less than our projections.
  To put it another way, for 2 years Congress has had $149 billion more 
to spend than it planned. But unlike previous Congresses, we held the 
line on spending and came in $48 billion under our goals. Does anyone 
seriously believe that if a Democratic Congress found itself with 
nearly $150 billion in unexpected revenue it would spend $48 billion 
less than its budget targets?

  Teddy Roosevelt once said, ``It is not the critic who counts.'' 
Similarly, the bumblebee really does not care what the experts or 
critics say about how he is flying. He just flies and goes about his 
business. He simply does not know any better.
  Since we buzzed into Washington to begin our work in 1995, the stock 
market has doubled, interest rates have dropped by 25 percent, and 6.4 
million new jobs have been created. Above all, this year the deficit 
stands at $23 billion, the lowest it has been in more than 20 years.
  If the critics can continue to ignore the facts, we will just have to 
ignore the critics. To paraphrase the old Arab proverb, ``Dogs may bark 
in the night, but the bumblebee brigade flies on.''

                          ____________________