[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16744]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  BALANCED BUDGET AND PAYING DOWN THE NATIONAL DEBT: DREAMS COME TRUE

  (Mr. EWING asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EWING. Mr. Speaker, when I came to Congress about 8 years ago, I 
had a dream of a balanced budget. That dream has now come to reality. 
And then, I had a dream that maybe we could pay down our national debt, 
and that is happening also.
  We should be proud of what we are doing with our budget. But there 
are some problems and some things that could happen along the way which 
might make us get off track. Let us remember that we got to the 
balanced budget because we limited spending, reformed welfare, and made 
our government operate more efficiently. If we allow spending to move 
out of control, if we discard the caps, we will dispose of the surplus 
not in tax relief, not in paying down the debt, but in a bigger Federal 
Government.
  The debate which we are going to have about tax relief should include 
a debate on spending controls and on debt reduction.

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