[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18609]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      A DIFFERENCE IN PHILOSOPHY

  (Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring some truth 
back into this whole debate about our government surpluses. Here is 
what the Republican Congress has proposed: $2 trillion toward reducing 
the national debt, far more than the President and the Democratic party 
has proposed; stopping the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund; 
putting $200 billion into shoring up Medicare; and if after those goals 
are achieved, our constituents continue to pay their taxes, give hard-
working American working families tax relief.
  The Democrats' and the President's plan? Raid Social Security by the 
tune of $341 billion, increase the national debt, do not put as much 
down to the national debt as we do, and keep all of the extra money in 
Washington. If Americans overpay their taxes, the President, and the 
Democrats want to spend the money.
  The difference is not tax cuts or debt reduction; the difference is 
tax cuts or new spending on new Washington programs.
  The President put it best when he said in Buffalo, New York to a 
packed crowded of 35,000 people:
  ``We could give you your money back, but we wouldn't be sure that you 
would spend it right.''
  Mr. Speaker, that is the difference. It is a difference in 
philosophy. We think people should get more of their own money after we 
start paying down debt, after we stop the raid on Social Security.

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