[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 31 (Thursday, March 19, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TIME TO MARK END OF AN ERA

  (Mr. GUTKNECHT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, it is time to mark the end 
of an era, and that era lasted only 2 years.
  On January 23, 1996, just 2 short years ago, the President declared 
in his State of the Union address that ``the era of big government is 
over.'' Now it appears that that era is over.
  When we came to Washington just a few years ago, we were looking at a 
$250 billion deficit as far as the eye could see. We set to work to 
eliminate programs to reform the entitlements; and, as a result, we are 
looking at the first balanced budget in a generation.
  Last August, we had an agreement with the President. We set very 
tough spending caps for the next 5 years. That is represented here by 
this blue line. The red line shows what the President is supporting 
this year in his budget. He is talking about spending over $100 billion 
more than we agreed to last August, and he is also talking about 
raising taxes and fees by over $100 billion.
  Unfortunately, it sounds like the era of big government is not over, 
but the era of talking about the era of big government is really over.

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