[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17796]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      THE SURPLUS; WHO IS IT FOR?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Fossella) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOSSELLA. Mr. Speaker, over the next several weeks what this 
great country of ours is going to hear is an important debate. And that 
is what to do with the money generated by millions of American 
taxpayers who get up to work every single morning, some of whom work 
two jobs, the husband and the wife work as well. So, you have a husband 
and wife working two or three jobs a week, sometimes working 6 or 7 
days to put food on the table, to pay the mortgage or to pay the rent, 
to make that car payment, to put away for your child's education, 
college, law school or med school.
  Whatever hopes and dreams you have for your family, you are getting 
up every single day to fulfill your dream. And at the end of the week, 
when that paycheck comes, a big chunk of that comes right here to 
Washington. And the American people have been working so hard in the 
last several years sustaining economic growth that we really have not 
seen in recent times and generating a surplus here in Washington.
  Now there are those here in Washington who think it is all their 
money. And there are those who want to spend every single dime on their 
favorite projects or programs. And then there are those who feel that, 
you know what our job here is to represent and do what is right for the 
American people, for those taxpayers who generated this surplus. And 
when we do things like address adequately Social Security and Medicare 
and education and protecting the environment and strengthening our 
national defense, then we can believe that those things are right. Then 
we decide, well, what is left?
  Right now Washington is projecting a $3 trillion surplus. Now for 
whatever those assumptions are worth, the bottom line here is there is 
money that is going to be left on the table.

                              {time}  2030

  It is important for the American people and the people back home 
where I am from in Staten Island and Brooklyn to understand the core 
principles that are going to really drive this debate.
  There are those of us who believe in personal freedom more for the 
American people, and there are those who say we need more government 
control. There are those who want lower taxes, because we believe in 
the American spirit that when we reduce taxes and allow hard-working 
people to keep more of what they earn, it drives economic growth, it 
creates more jobs, and we reinforce what we all tell and what we all 
believe in, and that is that in this great country, one can follow 
their dreams if given the chance. On the other side are those who want 
higher taxes.
  There are those of us on this side who want limited government 
because we believe when government gets too large it infringes on our 
freedoms and liberties, and there are those on the other side who feel 
that government is just not big enough.
  Then there are those who want economic growth as opposed to those who 
want bureaucratic growth, who feel that the decisions made in our 
communities across this great country are not good enough, but if we 
grow our bureaucracies here in Washington to have faceless and nameless 
bureaucrats make decisions for ourselves, our families and our 
communities and our schools, our police departments, that somehow, that 
is a better approach to government.
  Finally, there are those who believe in the creation of more jobs in 
the private sector that has driven this engine to generate this 
surplus, and then there are those who believe we need a little bit more 
redtape to stifle innovation, to hurt small businesses, to add 
unnecessary rules and regulations that actually reduces the number of 
jobs it could create.
  Mr. Speaker, over the next several weeks there are going to be those 
who say everything imaginable to allow the American people or force the 
American people to take their eye off the ball. I believe in the 
American people, the common sense that they will prevail in the end, 
and not only that, but that we will place our faith in their wisdom and 
judgment to know that when there is too much money left here in 
Washington, too many people want to spend it. I say when we take care 
of Social Security, Medicare, strengthen our national defense and 
protect our environment and improve education, what is left over we 
send back home to the people who earned it, to strengthen freedom, to 
strengthen liberty, and continue our path to prosperity, not only for 
families that I represent so proudly and humbly in Staten Island and 
Brooklyn, but all across this great country. I suspect that when we 
have this debate, the American people will understand who is right.

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