[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17976]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 17976]]

            THREE CORNERSTONES OF REPUBLICAN BUDGET PROPOSAL

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, the Republican budget proposal contains three 
important provisions, some of which our friends on the other side 
appear to be ignoring.
  First, it contains a Social Security and Medicare lockbox requirement 
which locks away 100 percent, every dime of the money collected from 
FICA taxes and requires that it all goes towards Social Security, 
Medicare.
  Secondly, it provides for substantial debt reduction. Debt held by 
the public would be reduced by over $2 trillion over the next 10 years.
  And third, it provides for tax relief they are debating.
  Social Security and Medicare, debt reduction, and tax relief. Those 
are the three cornerstones of our budget proposal. It seems that Social 
Security and Medicare and debt reduction are being forgotten in all of 
the debate about tax relief.
  But to ignore our plan to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, to 
ignore the $2 trillion in debt reduction that our plan calls for simply 
does not do it justice.
  Our plan is fair, balanced, and responsible. It protects seniors, 
begins paying down the national debt, and gives taxpayers a break.

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