[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 154 (Thursday, November 4, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H11486-H11487]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     PHONY NUMBERS, PHONY ANALYSIS AND PHONY ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES

  (Mr. MINGE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MINGE. Mr. Speaker, we have been embarrassed by the tragic level 
of duplicity here by the Republican leadership this fall. In a 
misguided effort to avoid blame for using the Social Security trust 
fund to finance pork barrel spending for things, including Trent Lott's 
home State, the leadership is compromising the Congressional Budget 
Office. It is using phony numbers, phony analysis.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair wishes to remind Members to avoid 
such references to Members of the other body.
  Mr. MINGE. It is using phony numbers, phony analysis and phony 
accounting principles. Here the Wall Street Journal has identified some 
of these problems. Smoke and mirrors has returned with claims that we 
have

[[Page H11487]]

 emergencies, and the use of slick accounting principles.
  The Republicans are $17.1 billion into the Social Security trust 
fund, according to the Congressional Budget Office. We violated the 
budget caps by over $30 billion, and the Republican leadership has 
failed to get the spending bills to the White House and here we are 5 
weeks into the fiscal year.
  We are operating on supplemental resolutions. It is a disgrace to 
this body.

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