[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 30, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S692-S695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BUDGET PITFALLS

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I had the privilege of coming 
to Congress in 1978 and being assigned as a freshman in January of 1979 
to the House Budget Committee. In 1979, I never thought I would live to 
see the day we would balance the budget, much less did I think I would 
live to see the day that, in fact, we would get into a surplus 
situation. Now, in this time of prosperity and budget surpluses, it is 
very much incumbent upon us to be fiscally wise and fiscally 
disciplined in how we use these budget surpluses so we do not go back 
into the boom-and-bust cycles that we have experienced in the past.
  Mr. President, 22 years ago as a freshman member of the House Budget 
Committee--I am now a freshman member of the Senate Budget Committee--
we had an annual deficit somewhere in the range of about $20 billion to 
$24 billion. Then, as we moved into the decade of the 1980s, that 
annual deficit crept higher and higher and higher. Toward the end of 
the decade of the 1980s, we exceeded $300 billion in annual deficit 
spending. That is not the kind of financial situation you want.
  Indeed, we just had Mr. Greenspan before the Budget Committee and he 
continued the very severe lecture that he has given us for years, which 
is: Be very fiscally disciplined and wise, and don't return to that era 
of deficit spending.
  I bring this up today--and this is, by the way, my maiden speech in 
the Senate, so what a privilege for me to be here, what a privilege to 
represent such a dynamic State as the State of Florida--but I rise on 
the occasion of my maiden speech to talk about the potential pitfalls 
that could take us back into deficit spending. In these times of 
prosperity and budget surpluses, it is important for us to be very wise 
and fiscally conservative in making these choices--and we are going to 
make some choices very soon.
  One of the first choices we have to make is: Are we going to use all 
of the Social Security surplus and most of the Medicare trust fund 
surplus to be applied to reducing the national debt? I can tell you the 
people in Florida believe very firmly that we should use the surplus to 
reduce and ultimately pay off the national debt. I think most of us, 
almost unanimously in this Chamber, would be dedicated to that 
particular part of budgetary restraint. We have the surpluses. We need 
to do that.
  The next question that is going to face us, then, is: What should be 
the size of the tax cut?
  I am going to argue and articulate about what my people have educated 
me, and that is to craft a Federal budget that will be balanced so we 
can have a substantial tax cut and, at the same time, we can address a 
number of other very important needs facing this country, such as 
modernizing Medicare, a 35-year-old system, to provide a guaranteed 
prescription drug benefit.
  I will give another example: a substantial investment in education 
that will help bring down class sizes and pay teachers more to give 
them the respect they need in their profession and who ought to have 
the very best to compete with the private sector, so that we have the 
very best teaching for our children; an investment in education that 
will also enable us to make the classrooms more safe and the schools 
safe.
  In addition to lowering class sizes, paying teachers more, and making 
the schools safe, we should have our schools accountable for the 
product they produce. That is just another example.
  Clearly, defense is another important priority: the new systems we 
are going to need, the research and development that will be needed. 
Indeed, what is one of the main reasons for having a National 
Government? It is to provide for the common defense, not even speaking 
about the question of pay for our men and women in our armed forces.
  I have only listed three, and there are many more. I mentioned 
prescription drugs, education, and defense, all being needs in which, 
over the next decade, this Government is going to have to invest more.
  The question is: With the available surplus, after we subtract the 
Social Security surplus and the Medicare trust fund surplus, with what 
is left, what is wise for us then to enact in a tax cut? Should it be 
the tax cut that is proposed by the administration which, after one 
considers the interest cost and the alternative minimum tax, is going 
to be in the range of a $2.2 trillion tax cut over a decade? What that 
would do is wipe out all of the available remaining surplus over the 
next decade so there would not be anything left for prescription drugs, 
education,

[[Page S693]]

defense, strengthening Social Security, the environment, and I could go 
on and on.
  What I argue in my maiden speech in this august body, of which I am 
so privileged to be a part, is that we approach our budget with 
balance, that we keep in mind primarily paying down the national debt 
with the surplus, and that as we make choices, we make them wisely on a 
substantial tax cut, but a tax cut that leaves enough of the surplus 
left to do these other things; plus one more thing, and that is, we 
need a rainy day fund.
  We do not know that these budget projections are going to pan out 
over the course of the next 10 years. We ought to have a cushion. We 
ought to be conservative in our fiscal planning so that if those budget 
projections do not turn out to be accurate, then we have a cushion to 
fall back on so we never get back into the situation we were in during 
the decade of the eighties when, in 1981, we enacted a tax cut that was 
so large--and I voted for it; I admit I am gun shy on this because of 
the lessons I learned--we had to undo it not once but three times, in 
1983, 1986, and again in 1990 when I had the privilege of serving in 
the Congress.
  I argue for balance, I argue for fiscal restraint, I argue for fiscal 
discipline, I argue for fiscal conservatism as we make these choices in 
the budget that we will be adopting over the next several months.
  I thank the Chair.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Indeed, I yield with pleasure.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I was sitting at my desk poring over my 
mail, watching for grammatical errors, errors in sentence construction, 
and, lo and behold, I heard this voice coming to me. I heard the voice 
saying this was a maiden speech, so I just stopped everything, and I 
said to the other staff people in the office: That man says this is his 
maiden speech. I am going to go up and listen to him.
  This is a reminder to me of the old days when Senators gathered 
around close to hear a new Senator's maiden speech. The word would go 
out, and we came. We did not have the public address system. We 
gathered close by so that we could clearly understand the words that 
were being spoken, and we looked the speaker eye in the eye and he 
looked us eye in the eye.
  This reminds me of those days when Senators gathered together to 
listen to a new Senator. This Senator has greatly impressed me. He 
serves on the Budget Committee with me. We are both newcomers on that 
committee. I have had the chance to talk on very few occasions with 
Senator Nelson. I have been impressed by his straightforwardness, his 
high sense of purpose in service. He comes to us from Florida. My wife 
and I lived in Florida for 7 months during the last days of the war--
the Second World War, that is, not the Civil War.
  I was a welder in the shipyard at the McClosky shipyard in Tampa. 
Spessard Holland was the Governor of the State of Florida. I later came 
to this body, and, lo and behold, here was Spessard Holland in this 
body. I went right over there, about the second or third seat in the 
front row, and I sat down and talked with Spessard Holland the day I 
was sworn in. I said: Well, Governor, I lived in your State. I was a 
welder down in your State while you were Governor. I am proud to be 
here serving with you.
  Spessard Holland was a very fine Senator. He was always courteous to 
a fault and made up his own mind. I think this Senator from Florida 
will be one who will make up his own mind. That is something we need to 
be very careful of here. I do not count myself being in a particular 
ideological group of Senators. I am an independent Senator--not an 
Independent but an independent Democrat. Sometimes I differ with my 
other Democratic friends.
  That is not the point here. I think we have a fine Senator in Senator 
Nelson who will be his own man, who will make up his own mind. He will 
study things carefully, and he will try to reach a reasoned, balanced--
I use his word ``balanced'' there--disciplined--he used that word, 
too--judgment. I am proud we have such a man coming into the Senate. I 
predict he will be a power in the Senate, and I consider myself very 
fortunate in having the opportunity to serve with Senator Nelson.
  I was trying to think of a bit of poetry that I wanted to recall for 
this particular occasion. But aside from that--I may get back to it 
later--I like what the Senator said. He intends to weigh very carefully 
this proposed tax cut which is in the nature of $1.6 trillion. That is 
$1,600 for every minute since Jesus Christ was born. That is a good way 
to gauge the size of this tax cut: $1,600 for every 60 seconds since 
the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  That is a lot of money, and I am going to weigh it very carefully 
with him. Yes, we need to think carefully about education. We also must 
remember that the 7 percent contribution we make to the education 
budgets in the States is not a great deal. And I am not sure how much 
good what we contribute really does. Probably, we will never be really 
sure.
  But education is at the local level. We need good teachers, teachers 
who know the subjects, teachers who are dedicated. We need parents who 
will back up the teachers. And we need students who want to learn.
  I was fortunate, coming up in the Great Depression, to have good 
teachers. They didn't make much money, and many times they had to give 
20 to 25 percent of their check in order to get it cashed in the days 
of the Great Depression. But they were dedicated teachers.
  I started out in a two-room schoolhouse; I am proud of it. I thank 
God for it. I thank God for the fact that I came through the Great 
Depression. It left some very vivid memories with me.
  I was born in 1917, and so my recollections of the Great Depression 
are as they were only of yesterday. I remember that little two-room 
schoolhouse at Algonquin in Mercer County. And I remember a little two-
room schoolhouse up on Nubbins Ridge where I attended. There were two 
teachers in that little school. One was a man; one was a lady. The man 
walked, I expect, 4 miles every morning to school. He came from far 
down the creek, and he came up, walked by my house, and I fell in line 
when he came by the house, and I walked on to school with him.
  I learned in those days. My heroes were the great patriots of the 
American Revolution. And they were men such as George Washington, 
Benjamin Franklin, Francis Marion, the ``Swamp Fox,'' Daniel Morgan, 
and men who lived during the formation of this Republic.
  Now, I wanted to learn. And the man who raised me never told me he 
would ever go up and whip the teacher if I came home with a bad report 
card. He wouldn't go up. And if the teacher gave me a whipping--which 
he didn't--I was told that I would get another one when I got home. And 
I knew that was the case.
  I wanted to please the two old people who raised me. They were not my 
father and mother, but I wanted to please them. I wanted to please the 
teacher, just to get a pat on the back, just to get a little pat on the 
top of my head from the teacher.
  I remember I took violin lessons beginning in the seventh grade. And 
at this particular school--it was in a coal mining camp--the principal 
was a tough disciplinarian, the kind we need in our schools, if they 
would let teachers discipline children. I don't think they will let 
them do that anymore. Too bad.
  But the principal's wife was a music teacher, and an excellent one. 
She talked me into asking the people who raised me if they would buy a 
violin for me so I could take music lessons. She thought I might grow 
up to be a violinist.

  So I remember one Saturday night when we all piled into the back of a 
big truck and went to Beckley 10 or 12 miles away. And there--I always 
called him my dad; he was the only dad I ever knew--he bought a violin 
and a case and a fiddle bow. Now I am talking about a fiddle, but it is 
all the same thing. But this whole kit and caboodle cost about $26 or 
$28. That was big money in a coal camp.
  Anyhow, I went home that night carrying that fiddle case under my arm 
and with visions--old men dream dreams, and young men have visions--of 
myself being a Fritz Chrysler or a great violinist. Well, I took 
lessons. And in this high school orchestra, I was the first violinist. 
It so happens, I was the first violinist. I was the first one. I

[[Page S694]]

got to the point where I thought I had all the lessons down pat, that I 
didn't have to practice as hard anymore.
  So one day I went to school, and the teacher had a little tryout. And 
lo and behold, she demoted me to the second chair. I went home a 
crushed lad, crushed because I had been demoted. I liked that music 
teacher. In all my years of 83, I have lost I think four teeth. It was 
on one of those occasions when I had an abscessed tooth that this music 
teacher said to her husband: Now, you take this boy to Sophia. That was 
3 miles away. This was in the wintertime. It was up a steep mountain. 
She said: You take him up to the dentist. And he took me.
  I was crushed that night because I had been demoted. But it was my 
fault. I got just a little too overly confident. So that night I 
practiced and I practiced and I practiced and I practiced; and the next 
day I recovered my first chair in that orchestra. Those are the kinds 
of teachers we had.
  We can put all the money we want into education, but the teachers 
have to be dedicated teachers. I had dedicated. They didn't make much 
money. As I say, they had to give a fourth or a fifth of it away in 
order to get a check cashed in the days of the Depression. But we can't 
pay enough money to a good teacher. And it is very disappointing to me 
when I see athletes draw down millions of dollars every year. Of 
course, I admire good athletes, but I think this country has gone all 
wild over athletes, and it is standing its values on its head. A lot of 
these athletes go out here and they commit crimes. They are not very 
good models. Of course, there are people outside athletics who are not 
good models, too. There have been a few in politics, especially in 
recent years, perhaps not altogether recent years.
  Look at some of the anchors on the TV from the networks. They are 
drawing down $5 million, $6 million, $7 million, $8 million a year. 
They aren't worth it. They aren't worth it.
  But we need to stimulate a love and a search for excellence in this 
country. Most of that can be done, most of the stimulation of that, the 
motivation of that; some of it will come from within; some of it starts 
in here. But it also comes from a good teacher, a good parent, who sets 
the example for that young person and encourages them to study, and 
study, and make something out of themselves--to use the words of my own 
people who raised me, try to make something out of themselves, try to 
continue learning.
  I try to continue learning. I am always trying to learn. Solon, one 
of the seven wise men of Greece, said: ``I grow old in the pursuit of 
learning.''
  We can pour out all the money from the Treasury, but it can be poured 
down a rat hole. The motivation has to be there. The good teacher has 
to be there. We ought to pay those good teachers. After all, they are 
dealing with our most precious resource. They ought to be paid well. 
But they ought to be held accountable for the work they do. And the 
parents, as I say, ought to strive to stimulate in the child a 
motivation, a desire to learn, learn, learn.
  I have gone a long way in my desultory ramblings here, but this 
matter of education is one that is overly, overly, overly important. As 
I often say to young people, no ball game ever changed the course of 
history, not one. And when you have seen one, you have seen them all. 
When you have seen one ball game, you have seen them all.
  I can play every position on the team. I can go through all the 
motions. I don't say this now in derogation of athletics. I don't do 
that at all. But we have our values standing on their heads. We have a 
job to do. We do need to think about education, as we think about the 
so-called surpluses. These surpluses, I have seen them on paper. I 
haven't seen one yet that really glitters because we don't have them in 
hand, and we may never have them in hand. If we go for this big tax 
cut, $1.6 trillion, once we write that law and the President signs it, 
that money goes out. It is gone. The surpluses won't be in hand, if 
ever, for some years. It will take a while. So we need to proceed with 
great caution.
  I hope the Senator will forgive me for imposing on his time. I felt 
so proud to see Senator Nelson come to the floor. I have lived more 
than 83 years. I have been fooled by a few people in my lifetime.
  My mom used to keep boarders, and I would go to her when we had a new 
boarder, and I would say: Mom, that man is going to cheat you out of 
your board payment.
  I didn't do that often, but I think I was about right in every one I 
selected. That man will cheat you out of your board bill; there is 
something about him.
  I think there is something about this man. In any case, he is going 
to be a good Senator, a hard-working one. I am proud to listen to him 
in his maiden speech, and I am delighted to work with him. I thank him 
for what he has said today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired. The Senator 
from Colorado is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield for a brief comment?
  Mr. ALLARD. I am glad to yield.
  Mr. REID. I also appreciate having had the opportunity to listen to 
the Senator from Florida. We served in the House together. He is just 
as good as the Senator from West Virginia expects him to be.
  It is a rare occasion that we have on the Senate floor two doctors: 
the doctor from Colorado and the Presiding Officer who is a doctor. 
They are both doctors of veterinary medicine. I think we should 
recognize the fact that they are and recognize that their talents are 
far beyond their medical training. It is unusual to have two doctors on 
the floor at the same time.
  I yield the floor to the Senator from Colorado and recognize that my 
friend, the Presiding Officer, is also a doctor of veterinary medicine.
  Mr. BYRD. Will the distinguished Senator yield to me briefly?
  Mr. ALLARD. I am glad to yield to the Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. BYRD. I did not know that Senator Allard was a doctor. He has 
gone up in stature with me since I have learned that. I have a little 
dog, a little Maltese dog, Billy Byrd. He is approaching his 14th 
birthday. If I ever saw in this world anything that was made by the 
Creator's hand that is more dedicated, more true, more undeviant, more 
faithful than this little dog, I am at a loss to state what it is. I 
take my hat off. My wife and I pay some pretty high bills to some of 
these veterinarians, but we gladly pay them. We love that little dog. I 
take my hat off. I wish I could say that I had been a veterinarian. It 
must be a joy to work with animals, especially with dogs. I believe it 
was Truman who said: If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog. 
Well, I have a friend in McLean, and I take my hat off to the 
veterinarians, the two of them, the one in the Chair as well. I am glad 
we have two here. I did not know this about Senator Allard. I have 
served with him a while. I am pleased to hear this.

  Thank you for the services you perform on creatures that make us 
happy and that show us God's love and show us how to be honest and true 
and faithful and guileless.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator further yield?
  Mr. ALLARD. I thank the Senator from West Virginia, as well as the 
Senator from Nevada, and in a moment I will recognize the Senator from 
Florida to comment, too.
  I want to invite all of you to join the veterinary caucus with all 
the favorable comments we are getting here. Before I yield to the 
Senator from Florida, I want to respond that Senator Gregg has a dog by 
the name of Wags, and Wags comes down the hallway and frequently comes 
into my office to say hello. We visit with him a little bit. If your 
dog is ever visiting you in your office, bring him down. We love dogs 
and would like to have an opportunity to get to know Senator Byrd's 
dog.
  I yield to the Senator from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. I thank the distinguished Senator for yielding 
for me to make the comment that it is not only a great privilege to 
serve here and to represent my State, but it is doubly a pleasure to 
serve with the quality of Members of this body as exemplified by the 
senior Senator from West Virginia. He is someone I have naturally 
gravitated to in these first few weeks as someone from whom I can learn 
a lot. Of course, I knew of his tremendous talents as one of the best 
orators who has ever been produced in the Senate. His reputation 
precedes him as one of the best fiddlers the Nation has ever produced, 
and now I am delighted to

[[Page S695]]

know how he got started as an expert fiddler by virtue of the story he 
told us of receiving the gift of a violin as a child.
  I thank the Senator for his comments, and I thank the Senator for 
yielding.
  Mr. ALLARD. I would also like to join with the Senator in commending 
Senator Byrd for his distinguished service in the Senate. We all 
respect him. Whether we agree with him or not, he is one of the more 
honorable Members here, somebody I appreciate. He has joined on the 
Budget Committee; I am new on the Budget Committee. I am looking 
forward to visiting with him about those issues as they come up before 
the Budget Committee. I think it is going to be a challenging year, and 
it is an important committee. It is an important start for the 
Congress.
  Hopefully, we will get some legislation quickly reported out of 
there, as we get the process moving forward.
  Again, I am glad we have all these animal lovers here in the Senate. 
I talked to Senator Ensign, who is in the Chair, about facetiously 
setting up a veterinary caucus. With all these comments, I begin to 
take it more seriously. We would like to perhaps extend an invitation 
to all the dog lovers here in the Senate, to see if they would like to 
join us.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator.

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