[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 28, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H467-H468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               LET US SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT'S INITIATIVE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 minutes.

[[Page H468]]

  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be here today following the 
address of President Bush to our colleagues and to the Nation regarding 
his priorities and where he hopes to take our Nation in the next 4 
years during his administration.
  Let me first commend him for identifying and discussing a number of 
issues that I would expect Democrats and Republicans to agree on 
wholeheartedly.
  He mentioned Head Start specifically. He talked about the 
environment. He talked about a military pay increase for the personnel 
first before we buy new equipment.
  He talked about our continuing efforts to increase the budget at the 
National Institutes of Health. He pledged to restore integrity to the 
Social Security system. He offered what is a blueprint for Medicare 
reform, and specifically one piece that was music to my ears, an effort 
to pay down the national debt.
  Now, if we listened to the other side of the aisle this morning, 
those baying at the moon, suggesting somehow that this is an 
irresponsible blueprint of fiscal remedy, who have argued against tax 
cuts, argued for more spending and consistently raised rhetoric that 
somehow this whole process is irresponsible from the start, it begs the 
question. Whose money is it really? If you stay around Washington or 
any of our capital cities around the country and you remain in the room 
with politicians for very long, they will convince you it is 
government's money.
  That theme plays out today on national talk radio as they launch an 
aggressive attack to demean the President's proposal, again suggesting 
it is irresponsible and telling us that they have a better plan.
  Having come to Congress in 1994, I remember the legacy left us by the 
majority party, at that time the Democratic Party, which was a 
ballooning deficit, out-of-control debt, increasing allocations 
annually for interest to pay on the debt, no ability to reign in 
spending, and when they really ran into rough sledding in the high 
degree of deficits, they blamed Ronald Reagan.
  As a member of the Committee on Ways and Means and a Member of 
Congress, I can assure the American public listening to me that the 
only persons who can effectuate tax cuts, spending proposals are the 
Members of Congress, the House and the Senate, as prescribed by the 
Constitution.
  Yes, President Reagan recommended tax cuts, and he was successful in 
convincing Congress to pass them, but along the way they were careless 
in not reducing spending to offset that reduced amount income. So we 
borrowed against the legacy of future generations to fund the programs 
that were near and dear to the hearts of Members of this body. We have 
a chance to do something different now. When we proposed paying down 
the debt and balancing the budget, we were told by then-President 
Clinton we could not do it in 13 years, maybe 11 if we tried hard. Lo 
and behold, we suggested 7, we did it in 4, and now we have what is 
surplus dollars in the Treasury.
  The call from the other side is to spend, spend, spend more money on 
priorities. I think if you listened to the President clearly last 
night, he outlined priorities that meet the test of time, are designed 
to help society's most vulnerable, are prepared to protect our domestic 
tranquility and our national security and really go about changing the 
fundamental way we conduct our mathematical equation here in this body.
  Now, my colleagues can complain and can obfuscate and can deride his 
proposals, but I believe in my heart that at the end of the day they 
will come around to suggest and recommend that these are not 
irresponsible cuts.
  Mr. Speaker, I remember last year when we proposed, I believe, some 
$600 billion, potentially $700 billion tax relief to the constituents, 
we call it tax relief, but it is really refunding of overpayment, we 
were told that number was exorbitant. It was out of sight, it was out 
of mind. It would explode the deficit.
  Yet, I hear the number bandied about by the other side of the aisle 
that they may accept $900 billion. What a difference a year makes. What 
a difference a year makes.
  Let us focus on trying to resolve first and foremost our 
disagreements on key policy issues, but let us also take a moment to 
recognize the hard work of every American who sends their money to 
Washington and hope they can do some good with it, hope we can improve 
the infrastructure of our Nation's highways, strengthen Social 
Security, provide for the military pay increase as necessary and do the 
kind of things that society should do for its constituents.
  As the President suggested last night, charities are no replacement 
for government, and I am a supporter of some of the involvement 
government has in our daily lives. But if we keep the money here, if we 
keep it on the table, and we suggest somehow we will pay down the debt, 
folks, get with it and get real, it will not happen.
  Once there is an excess of money left on the table, there is a 
program in every Member's district that deserves that surplus, and we 
will argue and we will debate and we will spend.
  Let us join together, support the President's initiative, give the 
taxpayers some real relief, give them some of their overpayment of 
surplus revenues back to them so they can spend it in their 
communities, on their children, figuring out their future and letting 
the government take less of their take-home pay on a weekly basis.

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