[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 87 (Friday, June 18, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4658]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            BIPARTISANSHIP FOR MAINTAINING FISCAL DISCIPLINE

  (Mr. WICKER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago there were reports that Jack 
Lew, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, intended to 
slam Republicans for making unrealistic cuts in spending programs. But 
these same reports also stated that Mr. Lew would insist that the GOP 
resist the temptation to raise the budget caps.
  An administration official said, the message is to the GOP, it is 
your budget, live with it. Our budget? Mr. Speaker, the 1997 Balanced 
Budget Act was passed by a bipartisan majority in both House and Senate 
and signed by the Democratic President of the United States. The 
problem is that while the minority leadership and the White House are 
talking fiscal restraint, many of their Democratic colleagues are 
pushing for spending well above the approved levels. The leaders and 
their rank and file and the OMB should get on the same page on this 
issue. There is time to deliberate and craft spending bills to maintain 
the fiscal discipline which has produced our budget surplus, but only 
if it is done on a bipartisan basis.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my Democratic colleagues to join us in the 
pursuit of this goal.

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