[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WITHER THE BUDGET SURPLUS

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Budget Office estimates 
that the Federal budget will be in surplus for the foreseeable future. 
Leaving aside the fact that this is not entirely accurate given that 
the Social Security surplus is masking the true size of the budget 
deficit, the question before us is what to do with the surplus.
  The Democrats, naturally, want to spend it. The Republicans, not 
surprisingly, want to see it used to begin paying down the national 
debt or they want to use it for a tax cut. I will leave it to the other 
side to explain to the American people why they want to spend more 
money on failed, wasteful social programs and I will only consider the 
real choice for Congress, paying down the debt or tax relief.
  My instinct is to go 50-50, half towards tax cuts and half towards a 
down payment on our $5.4 trillion national debt. But then I think about 
the likelihood that liberal spending politicians in Washington will 
keep their hands off the budget surplus and I start to lean more 
strongly towards tax relief.
  The bottom line is this: Do not spend the surplus.

                          ____________________