[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 4 (Monday, February 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S250-S251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE CLINTON BUDGET

  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I want to talk about the Clinton budget 
which was sent to Congress this morning. I want to try to outline 
basically what the budget does in terms of spending and taxes. I want 
to talk a little bit about the tobacco settlement. I want to talk about 
protecting Social Security. And I want to note that it is very 
important for people, in understanding the President's budget, to look 
beyond just the cover page, because the President's budget has a number 
of new programs that are funded by offsetting receipts and, as is 
usually true when a Government document is half as high as you are, 
there is a lot of hidden agenda, hidden spending, hidden taxes in the 
President's budget. My staff and I have spent yesterday evening and 
this morning going over the President's plan. I am not sure we have 
ferreted out all the new spending and all the new taxes, but we have 
numbers and I think they are important.
  First of all, the President proposes $130 billion of new spending 
programs. That is a larger scale of new Government spending than has 
been contemplated by any budget since 1994 when the President proposed 
having the Government take over and run the health care system. If you 
exclude the health care proposal, where the President proposed that the 
Government on a massive scale take over and run the health care system, 
you have to go all the way back to at least the Carter administration 
to find a budget that proposes the massive increases in social programs 
that are contained in the Clinton budget. Interestingly enough, when 
you look at the Clinton budget it claims to spend $1.733 trillion, but 
in reality, as large as that number is and as substantial as that 
increase is over last year, there is at least another $42 billion that 
is hidden in spending that is offset by fees and by asset sales, so 
that in reality the budget spends $1.775 trillion, which makes it far 
and away the largest budget ever submitted in the history of America.
  I think it is startling to note that the President's budget contains 
$115 billion worth of new taxes. Some of these taxes are called by 
different names, but they all represent taxpayers paying more in taxes, 
more in fees, more for the things they buy so that Government can spend 
more as their real purchasing power is less. There is some tax relief 
in the President's budget: $24 billion. But when you add it all up it 
is a net tax increase of a whopping $91 billion.
  What I think is amazing about this tax increase, which is the largest 
tax increase since President Clinton proposed his tax increase in 1993, 
is that the tax burden on American workers is higher today than it has 
ever been in the history of our Republic. Not during the peak of the 
war effort in the Civil War, not during the peak of the war effort in 
World War II, did the average American citizens send 30.5 cents out of 
every dollar they earn to government at some level before. This year 
American families on average will send 30.5 cents out of every dollar 
they earn to government, which will spend it on

[[Page S251]]

their behalf and supposedly in their interests. It is amazing to me 
that the President, when we are facing the highest tax burden in 
American history, would be talking about another $91 billion of net 
taxes.

  Let me talk about the tobacco settlement. The President is counting 
on $65 billion of revenues coming from the tobacco settlement and, 
except for a tiny amount--$800 million which is spent on Medicare--this 
$65 billion goes to an array of new spending programs that have 
absolutely nothing to do with the tobacco settlement. I want to remind 
my colleagues and anyone who is interested in this issue that the whole 
logic of the tobacco settlement is that the tobacco companies, by 
selling tobacco to consumers, and through the health effects of 
smoking, have imposed a massive cost on the Federal taxpayer. But where 
has that cost occurred? It has not occurred in child care, it has not 
occurred in new school buildings, it has not occurred in the cost of 
new teachers--it has occurred in mounting costs for Medicare. 
Interestingly enough, while the States are big beneficiaries in their 
Medicaid Program from the tobacco settlement, for every $1 of cost 
imposed on Medicaid by people smoking in the past, there have been 
perhaps $6 of costs imposed on Medicare.
  So I believe if we have a tobacco settlement, that money ought to be 
put to a noble cause and that cause is saving Medicare, not just for 
our parents but for our children. I don't think we ought to take money 
in the name of reimbursing the taxpayer for medical care costs that 
have been borne through Medicare and spend that money on other things. 
I believe, if there is a tobacco settlement, that the money ought to go 
to save Medicare and I intend, as chairman of the subcommittee with 
jurisdiction over Medicare, to fight to see that any tobacco settlement 
goes to Medicare, that it doesn't just become a grab bag to fund new 
Government programs that have nothing to do with the health effects of 
tobacco.
  The President says that he wants to use the surplus to save Social 
Security. No. 1, I think the President's words ring hollow when you 
note that he is busting the spending caps that we agreed to last year 
in a bipartisan budget. I am sure some of my colleagues will remember 
that I thought the spending level was too high in last year's budget. 
In fact, last year in writing that budget we broke the spending caps of 
the budget that President Clinton had pushed through Congress in 1993. 
But now the President is already trying to break the agreement that we 
adopted last year, and I reject that.
  Finally, I don't know how the President can claim to be saving Social 
Security when the Social Security system will pay in $600 billion more 
into the Social Security trust fund than will be spent on Social 
Security, and the President spends $400 billion of the $600 billion. I 
believe we need to set up a program to take that $600 billion and 
invest it in Social Security by making real investments that are owned 
by the individual worker so that young Americans will have some chance 
of getting some benefits from Social Security.
  So I believe the President's budget breaks the agreement that he 
entered into with Congress last year. The President's budget breaks the 
spending caps. The President's budget proposes the largest increase in 
spending contemplated by Government since he proposed having the 
Government take over and run the health care system. The President 
proposes the largest tax increase, $91 billion, larger than the tax cut 
from last year--he proposes the largest tax increase contemplated by 
our Government since 1993. The President takes $400 billion that will 
be paid into the Social Security trust fund and spends it on general 
Government under this budget. I believe that should be stopped.
  Finally, if we have a tobacco settlement, the money ought to go to 
save Medicare, it ought not to go to fund general Government.
  So, I believe the President is breaking the deal that he made with 
Congress. I believe your word is your bond on these matters.
  I am opposed to the President's budget. I think we should hold the 
line on spending. I think whatever surpluses we have, A, we ought not 
to do anything with them until we have them, and, B, when we do have 
them, we should use them to make real investments so that our young 
workers will have some benefit from Social Security, a program that 
they will pay into their entire working lives. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kyl). Will the Senator from Texas suggest 
the absence of a quorum?
  Mr. GRAMM. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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