[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 25219]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   GOOD NEWS TONIGHT: BUDGET BALANCE WITHOUT TOUCHING SOCIAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cooksey). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, Will Rogers used to say, ``All I know is 
what I read in the newspapers.'' There was another commentator who used 
to start his news cast every night by saying, ``This is good news 
tonight.''
  Mr. Speaker, there is good news tonight, perhaps the best news that 
we have had on the economy and the budget in a long, long time. There 
it is on page A18 of the New York Times. In fact, it appeared in 
newspapers all over the country today.
  Let me read the first two paragraphs. ``Something symbolically 
enormous may have happened today: the Congressional Budget Office 
announced that the Government may have balanced the budget in fiscal 
year 1999'', that is the one we just finished, ``without spending 
Social Security money.
  ``If so, it would be the first time that has happened since 1960, 
when Dwight Eisenhower was President, gentlemen sported felt fedoras 
and women wore fox stoles.''
  Mr. Speaker, this is truly great news. It is great news for all 
generations. What this really means, it means a more secure retirement 
for our parents. It means a much stronger economy for baby boomers and 
folks who are working. But, most importantly, it means a brighter 
future for our kids.
  This is just a blow up of that article that appears in the New York 
Times, but it is written all over. It is a great story.
  I want to come back to something and show my colleagues where we were 
just a few years ago. Because I think to understand the importance and 
the significance of this, we sort of have to look at where we were.
  This is what the Congressional Budget Office was predicting just a 
few years ago with what was going to be happening in terms of the 
Social Security deficit projections. We were looking, in 1999, at a 
deficit of $90 billion. We were going in the wrong direction. So the 
American people said enough is enough. We have got to change course.
  So what we did is we began to gradually reduce the growth in Federal 
spending. We have cut the rate of growth in Federal spending by more 
than half. As a result, today, we not only have a balanced budget ahead 
of schedule, but we believe, for the first time since Dwight Eisenhower 
was President, we actually have a balanced budget without stealing from 
Social Security.
  Now that we have crossed this Rubicon, I think we have to make it 
clear that we are not going to turn back. If we are going to do that, I 
think we have really only several alternatives. One thing, of course, 
we can always do is raise taxes. There are more than enough of our 
friends on the left who believe that that is really the answer in terms 
of balancing our budget long-term.
  The second, of course, is we could turn our backs on Social Security. 
We can begin to steal from Social Security again. We believe that is 
the wrong course.
  The only other real alternative we have in terms of balancing the 
budget and saving Social Security would be to cut spending.
  Now, in the next couple of days, we are probably going to be faced 
with that simple choice: Are we going to raise taxes? Are we going to 
steal from Social Security? Are we going to cut spending?
  I happen to believe that the third option is the only one that the 
American people will accept. I also happen to believe that the fairest 
way to cut that spending would be across the board.
  Our leadership and people on the Committee on Appropriations are 
working on a plan whereby we would cut spending 1 percent across the 
board. I think that is the fairest thing to do. I think that is what 
the American people want us to do.
  As I say, after wandering in the wilderness of deficit spending, of 
enormous deficits, including borrowing from Social Security for 40 
years, we have finally crossed the River Jordan. Now that we have, we 
have it within our power to make certain and make it clear to future 
generations that we are not going back.

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