[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 27 (Tuesday, March 12, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE BUDGET REVERSAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 23, 2002, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge a debate about the budget 
and Social Security. Tomorrow Republicans mark up their budget in 
committee. Next week they put it on the floor for consideration. Their 
budget will reveal the following facts: Republicans spent $4 trillion 
in surplus funds. They created deficits as far as the eye can see. They 
drained $2 trillion from Social Security, breaking promises made 
repeatedly to safeguard these funds. Their policies reversed 8 years of 
progress. Their budgets brought a historic reversal that impacts 
people's lives.
  Fifteen months ago, unemployment was under 4 percent. We were having 
serious discussions about what we were going to do with this huge and 
mounting surplus. How much should we save for Social Security? How much 
should we put into Medicare? How much should we invest in a 
prescription drug program? Should we put more money in education? 
Should we pay down more debt? And there were many who said that we 
could do all of it because the surplus was so enormous.
  So where are we today, March 12, 2002? We are not discussing what to 
do with the surplus. The surplus is just about gone. Today we are 
having that tired, troubled discussion we had for much of the last 20 
years: What are we going to do about the deficit? How are we going to 
save Social Security? What are we going to do to save Medicare? And how 
are we going to take care of health insurance for the unemployed?
  This is a Republican budget that breaks promises made over and over 
in the last 3 years to protect Social Security. It fails to keep our 
inter-generational contract and commitment. It threatens the retirement 
security of millions of baby boomers. In the aftermath of Enron, it is 
the height of irresponsibility.
  Five times, Republicans put bills on this floor to create Social 
Security lock boxes. They voted five times to make the trust fund for 
Social Security inviolate. They voted five times to save Social 
Security first. Yet, they put forward a budget that jeopardizes Social 
Security just as the baby boomers are about to retire. Their budget 
spends the Medicare surplus in each of the next 10 years. It makes a 
meaningful Medicare prescription drug program impossible. It reduces 
our commitment to public education, and it cuts programs promoting 
clean air and water that makes a difference in children's lives.
  This is not a debate in the end about the budget. It is a debate 
about integrity, and it is a debate about responsibility. It is a 
debate about the values we want guiding our budget decisions.
  What are our values? In this budget, our values call for keeping our 
commitments by saving Social Security first. Our values call for adding 
a real prescription benefit to Medicare, where it belongs. Our values 
call for making every public school a great and successful public 
school. Our values call for paying the Federal debt down. Our values 
call for cutting taxes in order to promote long-term economic growth 
and opportunity.
  I will never forget 1993. We balanced the budget. We made tough 
choices because we believed in opportunity, responsibility, and 
community. We put that plan together using the right values.
  So I urge Republicans, let us pass a budget that invests in national 
security, homeland defense, education, prescription drugs and our 
environment, and keeps Social Security sound and puts the Nation back 
on the path to fiscal health. Let us have an economic growth summit to 
reach the goals we all share. Let us get about keeping our commitments. 
Let us get about saving Social Security first and doing it beginning 
today.

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