[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12373-S12375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise today to respond to some of the 
things I have heard over the weekend, and now some of the things I have 
heard on the floor of the Senate. I heard over the weekend on some of 
the talk shows that the reason the Congress does not have its work done 
for the year, the new fiscal year which began October 1, is that it is 
the President's fault.
  We have no budget resolution passed by this Congress. For the first 
time in 24 years, there has been a failure to pass a budget resolution. 
That budget resolution was due by April 15. The President plays no role 
in a budget resolution; that is the responsibility of this Congress. In 
fact, the President does not even have a chance to sign or veto a 
budget resolution. It is purely the responsibility of this Senate and 
the House of Representatives, and these bodies have failed in their 
responsibility, and they have failed for the first time in 24 years.
  It is easy to blame the President for everything in this town, but 
when it comes to a failure to pass a budget resolution, it is not the 
President's fault. The fault lies right here, right here in the U.S. 
Senate and at the other end of this building in the House of 
Representatives. It was our responsibility to pass a budget resolution. 
It was our obligation to pass a budget resolution. That is the 
blueprint that is to be followed in order to coordinate all of the 
appropriations bills.
  Little wonder, now that the new fiscal year has already started. The 
new fiscal year started October 1, and we don't have our work done. In 
fact, most of the appropriations bills have not been passed. That is 
not Bill Clinton's failure. That is not President Clinton's failure. 
That is the failure of this Congress.
  I also heard colleagues assert that the President is proposing 
spending the surplus. That is not true. The President is not proposing 
spending the surplus. The new spending on education the President is 
proposing is to be fully offset. He is not spending the surplus on 
education. That additional spending will be paid for by reducing other 
spending. That is the President's proposal, not spending the surplus.
  Then we hear assertions that the President is proposing spending the 
money on emergencies. Anybody who understands the budget rules of 
Congress understands that we set the budget rules and we say that if 
the money is for an emergency, it does not count in the normal budget 
process. Those are our rules. Now I hear my colleagues standing up and 
blaming the President. It is not his fault that we have said if it is 
emergency spending it is outside the normal budget process.
  What are these emergencies? I heard a lot of talk moments ago that 
this is for bureaucrats in Washington. Wait a minute. What are the 
emergencies that have been designated by our own rules as emergencies?
  First of all, money for the farm crisis that is occurring across 
America. If that is not an emergency, I don't know what is. We have had 
a series of natural disasters all across America, and much of this 
spending that the President has proposed as emergency spending is to 
respond to natural emergencies, natural disasters. That is exactly what 
we should do.
  It doesn't stop there, because we also have a crisis in agriculture 
because of collapsed income. In my State, from 1996 to 1997, farm 
income dropped 98 percent. If that is not a disaster, I don't know what 
is. I will just say to my colleagues who say the disasters in 
agriculture are not emergencies, go ask your farmers and see what they 
say. I tell you, the farmers in my State say it is an emergency. They 
understand they have had extraordinary natural disasters, from the 
incredible drought in Texas and Oklahoma to the extraordinary wet 
conditions in my part of the country that has led to an outbreak of a 
disease called scab that has decimated the crops. That, according to 
our own budget rules, is an emergency, and when you have an emergency, 
it is outside the normal budget process. The President is not 
advocating spending the Social Security surplus, he is following the 
rules that we have laid down.
  What are some of the other emergencies the President has asked us to

[[Page S12374]]

respond to? One is the terrorist bombing of our Embassies in Africa. 
The terrorist bombings, are those emergencies? Without question, they 
are. That is according to our own budget rules. That is not money for 
bureaucrats in Washington, that is money to respond to a terrorist 
attack on the United States of America, and, according to our own 
budget rules, rules that we set down, that is an emergency.
  The President is not advocating spending the Social Security surplus. 
Interestingly enough, it is our colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle who proposed dipping into the surplus. It is our colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle who proposed a massive tax-cut scheme that 
would be spending the Social Security surplus, because every penny--
every penny--of their tax cut schemes would have come out of the Social 
Security surplus--every penny. That is raiding Social Security, and the 
President stood up and said, ``No, you don't touch that money.'' He 
said to them not to touch it. He is not touching it. He is following 
the rules that we have laid down. Those are the facts.
  When I look at the history of how we have gotten to where we are, I 
also have to respond to what I heard from some of my colleagues, that 
the Republican majority here is responsible for the first budget 
surplus in 30 years. Mr. President, here is the record on our budget 
deficits. This shows we have balance for the first time in 30 years. 
These are the deficits. We can see the deficits rose until, in the last 
administration, they reached $290 billion. In every year of this 
administration, the deficits have come down, so that this year we are 
showing a $70 billion surplus.
  When our colleagues say that it is the Republicans who brought us to 
a balanced budget, I have to say, wait a minute, let's check the 
record, let's check the facts. In 1993, the President put before 
Congress a plan to dramatically reduce the deficit. The Democrats 
supported that plan. Not a single Republican voted for it--not one. Not 
one Republican in the House, not one Republican here in the Senate, 
voted for that deficit reduction plan--not one. Yet, that plan is the 
only plan in the 12 years I have been in the Senate that has worked. It 
was a 5-year plan to reduce the deficit. It cut spending and it raised 
taxes on the wealthiest 1.5 percent of the people in this country.
  The Republicans say, yes, but we had a bipartisan budget deal in 1997 
that we played a role in, and it is the reason that we balanced the 
budget. I will give my friends on the other side of the aisle some of 
the credit. It is true, they participated, along with Democrats. That 
was a bipartisan plan in 1997. This chart shows how much of the deficit 
reduction has come from the 1993 plan and how much of it has come from 
the 1997 plan. What you can see is that nearly 90 percent of the 
deficit reduction that has occurred flowed from the 1993 plan that not 
one single Republican voted for--not one. This part of the job has been 
done by the 1997 plan that was a bipartisan agreement. It accounts for 
about 15 percent of the total. Those are the facts.
  When I hear my friends on the other side of the aisle beating their 
chests saying they are the ones who balanced the budget, wait just a 
minute; the action that has done most of the heavy lifting was done by 
Democrats, and Democrats alone, in 1993. In 1997, the balanced budget 
plan, the thing that finished the job off, was done by both parties 
walking hand in hand. Those are the facts.
  The result of the economic policy that was put in place by the 1993 
5-year plan has been one of the most successful economic plans ever 
adopted by this country. Again, not a single Republican voted for it. 
In fact, they said at the time--I remember so well because I am on the 
Budget Committee and I am on the Finance Committee, and I remember our 
friends across the aisle saying, ``If you pass this plan, it is not 
going to reduce the deficit, it is going to increase the deficit.''
  Our friends across the aisle said, ``It won't reduce inflation, it 
will increase inflation.''
  Our friends across the aisle said, ``If you pass this plan, it is 
going to crater the economy.''
  Well, they were wrong on each and every count.
  Here is what has happened in terms of economic growth: During the 
Clinton administration, it has average 3.9 percent; during the Bush 
administration, 1.3 percent; the Reagan administration, 3 percent; the 
Carter administration, 3.6 percent; the Ford administration, 0.9 
percent; the Nixon administration, 3.6 percent; the Johnson 
administration, 5.3 percent.
  In other words, this plan, this economic plan, has the highest level 
of private sector economic growth of any administration since the 
Johnson administration. Of course, in the Johnson administration the 
economy was fueled by a war. This is a peacetime expansion of an 
economy that has been remarkable and the strongest of any 
administration since the Johnson administration.
  On job growth, the economic plan that we put in place in 1993 has 
produced now over 17 million jobs--17 million jobs. The Reagan 
administration, that administration, generated 8.7 million.
  On real business productive investment, we see the highest rate of 
growth of any administration in decades--see real business productive 
investment growing at a rate of nearly 13 percent a year.
  That is the economic record. You can see we passed the economic plan 
in 1993; it has been virtually straight up since that time.
  That is not the only measure of economic performance. If we look at 
the inflation rate, we see that the inflation rate is now at its lowest 
in 33 years--lowest rate of inflation in 33 years.
  If we look at unemployment, we see that unemployment is at the lowest 
in 28 years--again, largely a result of the economic plan put in place 
in 1993, without a single vote from the other side--not one. That 
economic plan has produced truly remarkable results.
  If we look at interest rates, we can see, going back to 1977, we now 
have the lowest interest rates--measured as yield on a 30-year Treasury 
bond--the lowest in 20 years; under 5 percent for the first time in 20 
years.
  If we look at other measures of the economic plan that was put in 
place by this President, and with votes of the Democratic Party, we can 
see the effect on welfare caseloads. Welfare caseloads now--the 
percentage on welfare--are the lowest in 29 years. That was the 
successful welfare reform plan that we passed. And we passed a crime 
bill that has produced 5 years in a row of declining violent crime in 
America. That is the record.
  When our friends want to talk about the record, they do not ever want 
to compare the results in the last three administrations. So maybe we 
should remind them of what the results were in the last three 
administrations.
  This shows the Reagan administration record on deficits. When he came 
in, the deficit was about $80 billion. When he left, it was up to $150 
billion. In between, it had gone up to over $200 billion a year in 
deficits.
  When the Bush administration came in, the deficit was running about 
$150 billion a year. Before he was done, it was $290 billion a year.
  Then the Clinton administration came in, and we passed the 1993 
plan--again, without one single Republican vote--and each and every 
year of that 5-year plan the deficit has come down, until this year we 
have the first balanced budget in 30 years.
  When I say it is the first balanced budget, let me just say that in 
Washington what they call a balanced budget is not what we call a 
balanced budget anywhere else in America. In Washington, they call a 
balanced budget one that counts the Social Security surpluses.
  Here is another way of looking at what has happened. It shows that we 
have made dramatic progress. It also shows that we have not yet truly 
balanced the budget. The blue line shows what they talk about in 
Washington when they talk about the budget. But it is important to 
understand that it includes all of the revenue of the Federal 
Government and all of the expenditures of the Federal Government.
  That would make some sense if some of the revenues were not coming 
from trust funds. And if you exclude the Social Security trust fund, 
what you see is much the same pattern; that is, a dramatic reduction in 
the deficits. But what you also find is that if you exclude the Social 
Security surplus, we still have a deficit this year of $35 billion.

[[Page S12375]]

  Now, it is true, that is down dramatically from the last year of the 
Bush administration, when the true deficit, instead of being $290 
billion, was really $341 billion if you excluded the Social Security 
surplus. But if you exclude the Social Security surplus this year, 
instead of having a $70 billion surplus, you have a $35 billion 
deficit.
  Some economists say, well, you really ought to put it all together. 
Well, maybe that is why they are economists. I can tell you this: If 
you were running a company and you tried to take the retirement funds 
of your employees and throw those into the pot, you would be in big 
trouble because that is a violation of the law. It is called fraud. You 
cannot take the retirement funds of your employees, throw those into 
the pot, and say you have balanced your operating budget. But that is 
what is done with the Federal budget.

  So I think it is important to understand that while it is true we 
have made enormous progress, we have come down dramatically with 
respect to the deficit, and in fact in terms of a unified budget, we 
are balanced for the first time in 30 years. If we did not count the 
Social Security surplus, we would still have a deficit of $35 billion.
  Mr. President, let me just conclude by saying, the fact is, when I 
hear our colleagues say, No. 1, President Clinton is responsible for 
our failure to have a budget resolution, that is absolutely untrue. 
There is not a Member of this body who does not understand the 
President does not have one thing to do with the budget resolution. The 
budget resolution is just that--it is a resolution by both Houses of 
Congress. It is our responsibility to pass a budget resolution, and 
this Congress has failed.
  For the first time in 24 years, there is no budget resolution. The 
Senate passed a budget resolution, but the Republicans in the House and 
the Republicans in the Senate could never agree, and so for months the 
appropriations bills were delayed. So here we are at the start of a new 
fiscal year--no budget, no appropriations bills, and we are sitting 
here wondering how it is going to end.
  I think we know how it is going to end, Mr. President. It is going to 
end with a huge continuing resolution. There will probably be thousands 
of pages. There will probably be seven or eight appropriations bills 
all glommed into one package. And remember what Ronald Reagan said 
about that kind of process? He said in his 1987 State of the Union 
Address:

       . . . the budget process is a sorry spectacle. The missing 
     of deadlines and the nightmare of monstrous continuing 
     resolutions packing hundreds of billions of dollars of 
     spending into one bill must be stopped.

  Our Republican friends in the House and the Senate must not have been 
listening to former President Reagan, because they have not stopped it. 
In fact, what they have done is, every year for the last 3 years that 
they have been in control of this Senate and the House, that is exactly 
what they have done. They failed to do their work on time and, instead, 
they have handed us a stack of thousands of pages in a continuing 
resolution, with no time to review.
  And Ronald Reagan said the very next year, on February 18 of 1988, in 
his budget message:

       As I have stressed on numerous occasions, the current 
     budget process is clearly unworkable and desperately needs a 
     drastic overhaul. Last year, as in the year before, the 
     Congress did not complete action on a budget until well past 
     the beginning of the fiscal year. The Congress missed every 
     deadline it had set for itself just 9 months earlier.

  He could have been referring to this Congress, because this Congress 
has failed to meet every single budget deadline. In fact, for the first 
time in 24 years, they have produced no budget. Our colleague across 
the aisle was talking about how a family operates. I do not know many 
families that never bother to come up with a budget, but that is what 
has happened here under the leadership of our friends on the other side 
of the aisle. For the first time in 24 years, there is no budget--none. 
That is their failure, not the President's failure. It is their 
failure.
  President Reagan went on to say that Congress missed every deadline. 
He said, ``In the end, the Congress passed a year-long 1,057-page 
omnibus'' appropriations bill with an accompanying conference report of 
over 1,000 pages and a reconciliation bill over 1,100 pages long.
  President Reagan said:

       Members of Congress had only 3 hours to consider all three 
     items. Congress should not pass another massive continuing 
     resolution [President Reagan said in 1988.]

  He went on to say:

     --and as I said in the State of the Union Address, if they 
     do, I will not sign it.

  What a difference 10 years makes. Ten years ago, a Republican 
President said there should not be passed another continuing 
resolution. But here we are with a Republican-controlled Congress who 
has failed to even write a budget. That is the most basic 
responsibility of any Congress, to write a budget. This Congress, under 
Republican control, has failed in that most basic duty for the first 
time in 24 years. Why? Because the Republicans in the U.S. Senate who 
did pass a budget resolution--we passed it on a bipartisan basis--could 
never get together with the Republicans in the House of 
Representatives. So what we have is a colossal failure.
  I don't know how else to say it, but this is mismanagement on a grand 
scale. I hope people will remember what the record is because it does 
make a difference. America has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity in the 
last 5 years, prosperity that I believe came in significant part 
because of an economic plan that was passed in 1993, the 5-year budget 
plan, that actually did the job. It reduced the budget each and every 
year. I will show the comparison chart again.
  It reduced the budget each and every year since it was passed. When 
President Bush left town, he had a $290 billion deficit. If you weren't 
counting Social Security surpluses, it was even worse than that; it was 
$341 billion. Let's talk on a unified basis for a moment because that 
is how the press always reports it. Clinton came in and each and every 
year after we passed that 1993 plan, the deficit has come down. So now 
we have a $70 billion surplus.
  Again, I am quick to say I don't consider this a surplus because it 
is counting the Social Security surplus. Nonetheless, dramatic progress 
has been made in reducing the deficit. That has given rise to the 
strongest economy in almost anyone's memory.
  Our friends on the other side who are now in control are responsible 
for a dramatic failure, a failure to write a budget for the United 
States of America. The result is, here we are, the new fiscal year has 
started, we have no budget, half the appropriations bills aren't done, 
they will all be rolled into a stack of paper that will be probably 3 
feet high, it will be slammed on our desks, and we will be told to vote 
on it 3 hours later.
  What a way to govern. What a way to manage.
  It is not Bill Clinton's fault that no budget was written here. A 
budget resolution is the distinct responsibility of the Congress. This 
Congress has failed.
  I yield the floor.

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