[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 39 (Thursday, March 25, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H1486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          BIPARTISAN EFFORTS NEEDED TO REDUCE FEDERAL DEFICIT

  (Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, we need to be in a bipartisan fight against 
the Federal deficit. One of the tools we have in fighting the Federal 
deficit is called the pay-as-you-go rule, and it is a tool that works 
very, very well because when the pay-as-you-go rule is in effect, any 
Member of Congress, Democrat or Republican, if they are going to 
propose a new spending or a new tax cut, they are required to show how 
they are going to pay for it. This is common sense.
  Unfortunately, my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle 
refuse to apply this common-sense rule that was effective during the 
1990s in reducing the Federal deficit.
  Now, there is one thing we ought to be able to agree on, when you are 
in a fight, it does not make sense to tie one hand behind yourself. And 
the Republicans are tying one hand behind us, and the pay-as-you-go 
rule is going to be the pay-as-you-gone rule. I am disappointed that my 
Republican colleagues are taking a dive against the Federal deficit.

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