[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 3, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H917]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                FISCAL DISCIPLINE AND REDUCING THE DEBT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Smith) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge fiscal 
discipline and fiscal responsibility as we work on the budget for the 
next fiscal year.
  Back in the 1980s when we were running up our yearly deficits and 
consequently our overall Federal debt, there was a phrase that 
politicians used to utter in dealing with the problem which was, ``The 
balanced budget has no constituency,'' which is to say that when you 
spend money or cut taxes, there is somebody or some group of somebodies 
who are going to be happy about it. It has a constituency that you can 
please.
  Who benefits from the balanced budget? Who specifically? Well, 
obviously the entire public, both present and future, of our Nation 
benefits from it, but in purely political terms, those folks in the 
1980s and 1990s had a point. The constituencies were definitely more 
well defined for all of the programs and tax cuts that were being 
proposed and passed. I just stand up today to say that fiscal 
discipline and fiscal responsibility should still be a priority.
  Since I have been elected to Congress, a lot of folks have been 
talking to me about what it means to be a Congressman, how can in 
essence you prove that you have done a good job. I talk a lot about my 
emphasis on fiscal responsibility and balancing the budget and there 
tends to be this look like, ``Well, that's just not good enough.'' As 
they like to say, you have to have something to bring home, something 
to put your name on, whether it is a new bridge, a new bus stop in your 
district, a new swimming pool, you name it, something that you went 
back there and fought for Federal money to bring home. I understand 
that. In fact, I will say that many if not most of all of these 
programs are indeed worthwhile. Spending money on all of those things 
will help the district, help the State, help the future of the country.
  But we also have to remember that we need to be fiscally responsible 
because, a couple of reasons: First of all, in the future, folks are 
going to need all of those things as well and if we spend all their 
money now, they are not going to have them. And second of all, when you 
run debt up too high, you drag down the economy, drive up interest 
rates and create job loss, which makes it even more necessary to spend 
Federal money and it becomes a downward spiral.
  What I want people to recognize is that being fiscally responsible 
and paying down the debt does have a constituency. That is the legacy 
that I want to leave in my district. I think that is something to bring 
home, to go back to the people of the Ninth District of the State of 
Washington or any other district in the country and say, ``Yes, maybe I 
didn't fight for every last Federal dollar but I fought to balance the 
budget for your benefit, your children's benefit and their children's 
benefit.'' I think all politicians on both sides of the aisle should 
have the courage and stand up for that.
  As we head towards this year's budget, there is going to be a major 
battle. There is incredible pressure to spend money or cut taxes in 
thousands of different places. The thing about it is, these programs do 
have some value. As I have often said, I wish just once in my time as a 
public official somebody would walk into my office and say, ``We've got 
this plan to spend $5 million on fill-in-the-blank,'' and I could 
honestly look at that person and say, ``That's just a complete waste of 
money. That doesn't do any good for anybody and there's no way we're 
going to do it.''
  Of course when you spend money, there is always an argument that it 
is helping people, and it does. But you have to look at the long term 
as well. If we spend all the money now, we will be forfeiting and 
mortgaging our children's future, and that is not fair. At this 
particular time it is particularly frustrating, because we have a 
strong economy. We have unemployment of just over 4 percent, we have 
inflation of below 2 percent. We have a strong economy so that we do 
not have to spend as much money. The economy is taking care of people. 
The government does not have to do as much. Now is the time to be 
fiscally responsible, because if we do not do it now, a few years from 
now when the business cycle turns on us, it is going to be a thousand 
times more difficult, because people are going to need those programs 
and that help or that tax cut even more. Now is the time to be fiscally 
responsible, balance the budget and give something back to our future.
  I think all politicians in this body should be proud to go back to 
their district and say, ``Don't judge me by whether or not I brought 
you back a highway or a bridge or some other Federal program. Judge me 
by the fact that I had the foresight and the discipline to balance the 
budget and take care of our economy for today and tomorrow.'' That is 
what I think we should be doing back here in Congress, despite the 
overwhelming pressure to spend money. Spend it, fine. The Federal 
Government spends a lot of money, $1.7 trillion. No reason we cannot 
spend it within our means. No reason we cannot be fiscally responsible 
and balance the budget. I urge that we do that as soon as possible and 
remember that discipline when we go into the budget battles that lie 
ahead this year.

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