[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14719]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  THE SURPLUS BELONGS TO THE TAXPAYERS

  (Mr. Ballenger asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, the latest government economic report 
estimates that the budget surpluses over the next 15 years will be 
larger than expected, much larger than expected. While the other side 
is busy celebrating the new opportunities to expand the Federal 
bureaucracy and create new Washington programs, conservatives are 
asking more fundamental questions about the budget surplus: To whom 
does it belong? Once that question is answered, it is easier to answer 
the question about what should be done with it.
  The surplus belongs, of course, to the taxpayers. Note the surplus 
does not belong to all Americans, it belongs to the people who sent the 
money to Washington to begin with.
  Now, if the Democrats have their way, that money will be spent. Many 
Democrats will talk about using it for debt reduction, but history does 
not inspire confidence. Anyone who claims that the liberal tax and 
spenders will not spend the surplus is invited to give me just one 
example of an instance when it did not happen.

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