[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 12, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H1751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HOUSE TO MARK UP ITS BUDGET RESOLUTION TODAY

  (Mr. SMITH of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon the Committee on 
the Budget is planning to mark up our budget resolution. That budget 
resolution is important to our future and our economy. What I am 
particularly concerned with is the increase in deficit spending. The 
deficit as projected by the CBO is now approaching $435 billion for 
this next fiscal year. That does not include supplementals. It does not 
include any possible war.
  If we are concerned at all about the negative impact of increased 
spending, if we are concerned at all about the debt obligation that we 
are passing on to our kids and our grandkids then we need to cut. We 
pretend that our problems today are more important than problems are 
20, 30 years from now and asking them to pay back the debt of our 
overspending. I think it is unconscionable and I think it is bad for 
the economy, because we are going to end up bidding in the marketplace 
for available money and, therefore, drive up interest rates, which is 
bad for the economy.




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