[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 5, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H1770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




BALANCED BUDGET PROVES REPUBLICAN CONGRESS IS SERIOUS ABOUT ITS PROMISE 
             TO BALANCE BUDGET AND CONTROL DEFICIT SPENDING

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, let me see if I have got this 
straight. I am supposed to be impressed that the government is not 
going to spend more money than it has. I am supposed to rejoice that 
the government is not going to make our $5 trillion national debt any 
worse. I am supposed to brag to my constituents that Washington is 
going to balance its budget.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, by the standards of Washington, yes.
  Balancing the budget should not be a big deal; it should not be 
treated as some great achievement. But I must say, after 30 years of 
expanding the welfare state every year, balancing the budget is no mean 
feat. Balancing the budget, which to me is only common sense, is an 
extraordinary thing in a town that has seen nothing but deficits since 
1969.
  This balanced budget is proof of two things. First, the Republican 
Congress is serious about its promise to balance the budget. Second, 
deficit spending does not have to be a way of life.
  Now that is something to brag about.

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