[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 8 (Wednesday, February 6, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A BALANCED WARTIME BUDGET

  (Ms. HARMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, we have seen this movie before. Federal 
budget deficits as far as the eye can see; ``constraints'' on Federal 
spending as realistic as pie in the sky; heavy borrowing from Social 
Security and Medicare trust funds to pay for day-to-day spending.
  In the early nineties, this behavior by the Federal Government 
retarded economic growth. The annual Federal deficit was $300 billion a 
year; post-Cold War defense spending cuts sent unemployment in my 
congressional district into double digits; long-term interest rates 
stayed high, putting business borrowing and home mortgages out of 
reach.
  Only after a series of hard-fought battles and the enactment of the 
Balanced Budget Act of 1997 did budget surpluses begin to emerge and to 
spur economic growth and millions of jobs.
  With the release of Monday's budget, Mr. Speaker, it may be ``deja vu 
all over again.''
  Mr. Speaker, we need a wartime budget which recognizes that defense 
and homeland security are our top priorities, protects Social Security, 
and puts everything else, spending and future tax cuts, back on the 
table.
  We need to return to a balanced budget.
  Homeland security, Mr. Speaker, must also mean economic security.

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