[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 28, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3020-S3021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE UPCOMING BUDGET DEBATE

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, we are having a little pause in the 
subject of campaign finance reform, thankfully. We have been at it for 
some time. Hopefully, we will be through this week soon. It is a very 
important issue, but I am anxious, as most of us are, to move on to 
some of the other issues before us. Probably the most important one is 
that of the budget.
  Each session, of course, is important and vital. It is important for 
us to have a budget. You can argue about the details of the budget, but 
the fact is that a budget is more than just a piece of paper with our 
spending plans on it. The budget is what defines where we are going to 
go over the next 2 years and into the future. It defines, as well, what 
our priorities are, which is a very important issue. It causes us to 
look ahead as to where we ought to be doing things that strengthen 
America, things that we ought to be doing that help put this economy 
back in place. Hopefully, we will be working on that budget next week.
  The President has put forth a budget. Our Budget Committee will come 
forth

[[Page S3021]]

with a budget. I believe the Republican budget addresses the priorities 
of the American people. It puts us on the continued road of a balanced 
Federal budget which, of course, for many years we didn't have. We had 
deficit spending and we continued to increase the debt. We now, largely 
because of a strong economy, have a situation where we have not only a 
balanced budget, but a surplus which is, of course, in many ways a very 
happy thing to have. We have a priority, I hope, of continuing to save 
Social Security for seniors, not only for the immediate future but for 
a distance in the future where young people will be able to have 
benefits from the Social Security they pay in from the very first day 
on the job. We can commit ourselves to do that by assuring the dollars 
that come in that are designed for Social Security are used for Social 
Security.
  We have a priority to improve and strengthen Medicare--obviously, one 
of the things that affects many people. We have to deal with 
pharmaceuticals and with many of the things that go together to 
strengthen the Medicare. In terms of dealing with the future and 
dealing with young people, we need to deal with our national debt 
which, of course, is very large. I believe we have a responsibility to 
begin to pay that down. Some people want to pay it down immediately, 
which is not practical in terms of the fact that the money is invested. 
But over a period of 10 years under this budget, we can pay that 
publicly held debt off. I think that is what we ought to do. We have an 
obligation to do that. We have spent the money and now we should not 
leave the debt over to the other people.
  We are committed to improve educational funding, and we need to do 
that, to give every school an opportunity. We always get into the 
argument--of course, a valid argument--about which I feel strongly, and 
that is whether or not dollars that go from the Federal Government out 
to education should be used only for purposes that are defined in 
Washington, which I think is wrong, or should there be an opportunity 
given for people in local and State levels to use the money as they 
determine it is most needed for their particular school. And then, 
finally, we have an opportunity, which I hope we will take full 
advantage of, to return the surplus tax overcharges to the American 
taxpayers. Return the money to the people who have paid.

  Of course, we also have a challenge with our economy weakening. It 
has weakened over the past year. We have an opportunity to do something 
more immediate on tax changes and put more money back into the economy 
in the short run. I am hopeful that we will do that.
  The budget the President has proposed, the budget we will be talking 
about, does strengthen and reform education. It provides the Education 
Department with the largest percentage increase of any Federal 
department. It triples the funding for children's reading programs.
  It does protect Social Security. It preserves Social Security by 
locking away all of the $2.6 trillion Social Security payments that 
will be paid in and the surplus for Social Security.
  It strengthens defense, which has to necessarily be one of our 
priorities. We have not, over the past several years, done what we have 
needed to do to keep our defense the toughest in the world, or have the 
oversight to make an evaluation of where we are on weapons, or to do 
something for the volunteer service to encourage people to be in the 
military, or to do something about the living conditions of our 
military personnel.
  We need to protect the environment. Right now we are faced with a 
challenge, a crisis in energy, and much of that will have to be 
resolved by more production, by, as in my State of Wyoming, producing 
more resources for energy.
  As we do that, we must equally be concerned about protecting the 
environment. We are being challenged by organizations that say: If you 
are going to protect the environment, you cannot have access, you 
cannot use those lands at all. Those are not the choices. We can, 
indeed, have access to public land. We can, indeed, utilize those 
resources and allow people to hike, hunt, produce on those lands, and, 
at the same time, protect the environment.
  Next week is going to be one of the most challenging weeks as we deal 
with the budget, our priorities, and what we are going to do about the 
surpluses. Americans are paying the highest percentage of tax of gross 
national product, higher than World War II. That should not be the 
case, and we have an opportunity to change it.
  We have an opportunity to let local people and the States be involved 
in the decisions rather than dictating from Washington, as we have 
become accustomed to over the last number of years.
  We have an opportunity to do some things, and I am excited about that 
opportunity. It is very important we pass a budget. If we do not do 
that, we will not be able to deal with tax reductions, which I think 
are terribly important, not only as a matter of fairness to the 
American people but as a matter of helping this economy and moving it 
forward as quickly as we can.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Clinton). The Senator from Missouri.

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