[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2082]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  NATIONAL DEBT IS NOT GOING DOWN UNDER PRESIDENT'S RECENTLY RELEASED 
                                 BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, the White House would like the American 
public and this Congress to believe that the national debt is going 
down under their recently released fiscal year 2000 budget. But let us 
look at page 389 of the President's very own budget from his Office of 
Management and Budget. We see that the total national debt not only 
does not go down but, in fact, is actually going up each year for the 
next 5 years to the tune of $1.3 trillion.
  Just last week I asked the President's Budget Director, Jacob Lew, 
during a Committee on the Budget hearing, about this, and he was 
evasive about the fact that the President's own budget calls for $1.3 
trillion more in total debt on our children and grandchildren. I then 
asked Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, the next day during a Ways and 
Means hearing, the same question, and Secretary Rubin refused to answer 
a yes or no question about whether the total debt is actually going up.
  Mr. Speaker, President Clinton and his administration are grossly 
misleading the American people when they say the public debt is going 
down. They are telling a half truth. The President and his 
administration are correct in saying the public debt will go down, but 
what they are not telling us is that the total debt, the debt held by 
the government for Social Security and other trust funds, is going up 
at an even faster rate, which makes the total debt go up by, yes, $1.3 
trillion over the next 5 years. No matter if the debt is held by the 
public or in various trust funds, it is still debt that must be paid 
back at some future point.
  The Clinton administration is doing future generations no favors in 
this budget. More accurately, it is dishonest and disingenuous for the 
Clinton-Gore administration to tout huge surpluses on one hand when, on 
the other, their budget places even more debt on the shoulders of our 
children and grandchildren. And as if forcing $1.3 trillion in more 
debt on future generations was not enough, the President's budget 
called for a net tax increase of $45.8 billion, and requests an 
additional $150 billion in new spending over the next 5 years.
  Mr. Speaker, it is the duty of this Congress to stop this assault on 
our future generations and all taxpayers. I urge my colleagues to amend 
the President's budget and to live within our means and to begin paying 
down our $5.5 trillion national debt.

                          ____________________