[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 150 (Tuesday, October 20, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H11691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE 105TH CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fox) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to address my 
colleagues and to highlight the accomplishments of this 105th Congress.
  For the first time since 1969, Mr. Speaker, we have a balanced 
budget, a balanced budget which means lower interest rates for all of 
our families, when it comes to their mortgage, when it comes to car 
expense and when it comes to student loans.
  And what is the biggest dividend from a balanced budget, Mr. Speaker, 
has been the fact that we now have a budget surplus. After 40 years of 
excessive spending, we now have a budget surplus. This year alone we 
are talking about 71 billion. Over the next 10 years we are speaking 
about $1.6 trillion dollars. That is the American taxpayers' money, 
most of which, under the Republican-led plans, will go to shore up 
Social Security. A much lesser amount is actually needed, but this is 
to make sure that Social Security is secure for many years to come and 
also make sure the following takes place: We take Social Security off 
budget; we roll back the 1993 tax on Social Security; we increase the 
income that seniors can earn without deductions from Social Security 
from 30,000, under our proposal to $39,000 a year.
  We have also taken important steps to save Medicare, the health care 
program for our seniors. Under this program we have done two major 
things, Mr. Speaker. One, we have increased the penalties for those who 
would abuse Medicare, health care fraud, whatever provider they may be. 
If they would, in fact, abuse Medicare, they would no longer be 
providers and would be subject to penalties. Beyond that, we have five 
new health care prevention programs for our senior citizens under 
Medicare. We have the annual mammograms, the annual Pap smears, the 
annual prostate cancer screening, the annual colorectal cancer 
screenings and as well osteoporosis screening and the diabetes 
screening.
  On IRS reform, what grade strides we have made here. The Republican-
led House and Senate have done the very thing that I was requesting in 
my legislation to shift the burden of proof. Instead of the IRS 
commissioner being presumed correct and we guilty as taxpayers, we have 
shifted it. It is now assumed that the taxpayer is presumed correct and 
the IRS commissioner has the burden of going forward to prove 
otherwise.
  FDA reform, we have now speeded up the approval for life-saving drugs 
and medical devices signed into law by the President. I was proud to do 
my part to move this legislation forward to help people live longer and 
better while waiting for a cure or vaccine.
  On education, the Republican-led Congress has given an additional 
$500 million over the President's amount for special ed. Increased 
funding for the Women, Infants and Children program, our school 
nutrition programs, increased funding for Head Start, for the 
vocational education program, for charter schools. But the most 
significant program was one that came from the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts). This program says more dollars to the 
classroom and less money for bureaucrats; 95 percent of all dollars 
must go back to schools to use as they see fit, more teachers, new 
classrooms, maybe new computers, whatever each school district wants. 
This ensures that every every new school has an additional $90,000, 
even more funds for each school district.
  It also would do something for higher ed. Our legislation says we are 
going to increase the loans and grants for college students, highest 
ever Pell grants and our lowest interest rate in 17 years.
  Yes, America is on the move because of a bipartisan Congress, led by 
Republicans, to make sure we made a difference in people's lives for 
working families, for seniors and for our young people. We made a real 
positive difference.
  I am looking forward to working together with my colleagues as we 
move forward to make sure America is stronger and American is better.

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