[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 42 (Friday, April 3, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3231-S3232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FISCAL YEAR 1999 BUDGET RESOLUTION

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to express my views on 
the budget resolution. I commend the Budget Committee on the job it has 
done. Chairman Domenici and Senator Lautenberg should be praised for 
their efforts to bring a bill to the floor that balances the budget for 
the first time in 30 years. And yet, this resolution fails to 
adequately address some of our nation's most pressing priorities, 
including child care, education, and health care.
  First, however, I would like to take a moment to discuss how we 
reached this historic moment when, for the first time since 1969, we 
present the American people with a budget that is in balance. The 
balanced budget we have today is a result of the hard work and progress 
we have made over the past few years to reduce the deficit. The effort 
dates back to 1990 when President Bush--despite strong opposition from 
his own party--boldly endorsed a plan that lowered the deficit by $500 
billion and started us down the road to fiscal responsibility.
  This effort was then continued by President Clinton in 1993 when he 
proposed a far-reaching economic plan, which is more appropriately 
called the Balanced Budget Plan of 1993. This balanced budget plan, 
which I supported, was enacted into law without a single Republican 
vote and has helped to reduce the deficit from $290 billion at the 
beginning of 1993 to an anticipated surplus this year. Despite the 
claims by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that President 
Clinton's plan would doom our economy, this economic plan has put us on 
a road to solid recovery. It has reduced deficits by more than $1 
trillion, led us to the lowest unemployment rate in 24 years, created 
15 million new jobs, and resulted in the greatest number of Americans 
owning homes ever.
  Most recently, Mr. President, we finished the job of balancing the 
budget when we enacted the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The Balanced 
Budget Act of 1997, which I supported, not only reduced spending, but 
also cut taxes for the first time in 16 years, providing much-needed 
tax relief for working families. I was very pleased to support the 
Balanced Budget Act of 1997 because it protected our priorities such as 
fiscal discipline, child care, education, health care, and the 
environment.
  Unfortunately, Mr. President, the resolution before us today fails to 
protect these priorities and turns its back on America's families and 
children. It fails to recognize many initiatives important to our 
children and families including quality child care, reducing class 
sizes, renovating and modernizing our children's schools, and promoting 
after-school learning.
  The resolution provides no mandatory funding for either child care or 
early childhood education. Moreover, it explicitly excludes President 
Clinton's proposals to use any revenues from comprehensive tobacco 
legislation to pay for initiatives for children, including child care, 
anti-smoking education, children's health care, and improvements in 
education.
  Clearly, the resolution before us shortchanges children, and that is 
why

[[Page S3232]]

I offered an amendment to establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund 
which could be used to fund legislation designed to improve the 
affordability, availability and quality of child care, and to support 
families' choices in caring for their children. I was disappointed, 
obviously, when my amendment was defeated, but was pleased that the 
amendment had the support of fifty of my colleagues.
  The resolution also reduces funding for the Administration's 
education priorities by $2 billion, and as a result, about 450,000 
students could be denied safe after-school care in 1999, some 30,000 
new children could be denied access to the Head Start program, and 
6,500 middle schools would not have drug and violence prevention 
coordinators. And yet, while Republican budget increases funding above 
the President's request for Impact Aid, Special Education, and the 
title VI block grant, these increases come at the expense of many other 
priorities that also strengthen our commitment to children and 
education.
  Mr. President, this budget as a whole ill-serves children and 
families, and that is why I was pleased to support the Democratic 
alternative budget offered by Senator Lautenberg. The Democratic 
alternative would strengthen our commitment to our priorities by 
providing funding for key initiatives such as hiring an additional 
100,000 teachers, creating more after-school programs, and doubling the 
number of children who receive child care assistance. Further, the 
Democratic alternative moves us toward our goal of one million children 
in Head Start by 2002, doubles the number of children in early Head 
Start, and places up to 500,000 children in after school learning 
centers.
  In addition, Mr. President, the Democratic alternative maintains our 
commitment to other Democratic priorities such as cleaning up the 
environment and investing in our transportation infrastructure. 
Moreover, it would expand Medicare coverage to Americans ages 55-65. 
And not least, Mr. President, the Democratic alternative strengthens 
Social Security by reserving the entire unified budget surplus, while 
maintaining strict fiscal discipline by meeting the discretionary caps 
in all years.
  I regret, Mr. President, that the Democratic alternative was 
defeated. And I regret that the resolution before us today is not one 
that I, in good conscience, can support. In my view, the Republican 
budget shortchanges America's working families. I am, however, hopeful 
that as we move forward in the budget process, we will craft 
legislation that focuses on priorities like child care, education, 
health care, and the environment. Finally, Mr. President, in our 
efforts to craft a budget that targets the needs of working families, 
it is imperative that we remain vigilant in our efforts to maintain 
fiscal responsibility.

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