[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17978]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 17978]]

         RETURN THE BUDGET SURPLUS TO THE PEOPLE IT BELONGS TO

  (Mr. SCHAFFER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, government or the people; that is the 
question. Should the projected budget surpluses be kept in Washington, 
D.C., or should it be returned to the people it belongs to?
  On the liberal side of the aisle, they say, trust politicians. We 
won't spend it. We'll invest it wisely for you.
  On the conservative side of the aisle, we look at human nature. All 
of our history, and especially the track record of these very same 
people making these promises and we say, nice try. Let's give it back 
to the taxpayers before politicians in Washington spend it.
  The idea that the same people who blocked Ronald Reagan's attempts at 
cutting spending and then blamed Reagan for budget deficits, the same 
people who call Republicans extremists every time we try to cut 
spending, the same people who become hysterical every time Republicans 
insist on fiscal discipline are now asking us to trust they will not 
spend the budget surplus. I find that completely absurd, and in any 
case, that money belongs to the people, not to the government.

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