[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     FOUR YEARS' ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I just came from our Republican 
Conference talking about what is in this omnibus appropriation bill. 
The good news is that when we think of what might have happened with 
the tax-and-spend presidency, with the tax-and-spend Democrats, what 
would have happened if Democrats were in control of this Chamber not 
fighting to make sure that we did not reach into the surpluses that we 
have for additional spending.
  What we have accomplished since the Republicans took the majority 4 
years ago is a tremendous reduction in deficit spending. The unified 
budget deficit 4 years ago was $210 billion. If we add to that what we 
were borrowing from the Social Security trust fund, then it came to 
about $160 billion, more deficit at that time than we have this year.
  We actually paid down the debt to the public this past year by $60 
billion. We expect that this current fiscal year, the 1999 fiscal year, 
we will reduce the debt to the public, the public debt, by an 
additional $62 billion. It is not as good as it should be. We are still 
borrowing some of that money from the Social Security trust fund for 
other spending. I wish my colleagues would join me in cosponsoring my 
bill that stops the government from borrowing this money and leaving 
simple IOUs.
  Look, the point is that we have got a good start. We have got a 
smaller deficit by $260 billion than we had 4 years ago. If we look at 
what happened when I first came to this Congress in 1993, the 
frustration of a Democrat majority and a presidency that increased 
taxes on senior citizens, on gasoline, and so most Republicans voted 
against it, most every Democrat voted for it, and we have been trying 
to turn that around ever since.
  Now the goals of this Congress, with a majority of Republicans, I 
think is twofold. I think we are looking at traditional family values. 
There is not a lot that government can do about traditional family 
values, but, look, there are some things we can do. The marriage 
penalty tax. We can set an example. We can encourage neighborhoods to 
get involved. And that is what we are trying to do with our drug 
program.

                              {time}  1800

  We have expanded money for drug control in this Congress with this 
budget that we expect to pass in the next 48 hours. Drugs are 
disrupting education. Drugs are one of the major causes of crime. And 
we are saying that, look, we are going to be serious about an all-out 
war on drugs.
  I think as we look at our challenges ahead for the future, certainly 
we have got to put a priority on trying to deal with the fiscal problem 
of Social Security and Medicare. Those are two huge challenges that we 
have got to face up to. I am concerned about the politics that is being 
played with those items during this election year.
  I would just suggest, Mr. Speaker, to everybody out there that might 
be listening to this program to brace up for the last two weeks of this 
campaign, as there is going to be a lot of misleading and false 
information out there that suggests that one side of the aisle cares 
less about balancing the budget or more than the other side, that one 
side cares less or more about Social Security and Medicare.
  Our two biggest fiscal problems are Social Security and Medicare that 
we have got to deal with. I think on the domestic side, we need to look 
at traditional family values. We need to give the kind of priority to 
education that this appropriation bill gives, as we have expanded over 
and above what the President requested for the programs for the slow 
learners, for the special program education money that goes into IDEA, 
because hopefully both sides of the aisle will give the kind of 
priority to education, will give the kind of priority to reducing crime 
that this particular appropriation bill does that we will pass in the 
next two days.

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