[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2222-2223]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     WITH BIPARTISAN FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Scarborough) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, I must tell the Members that I have 
been very encouraged by the last two speeches from our Democratic 
friends talking about the need for fiscal responsibility. I really do 
believe that despite the fact that the chattering classes on TV every 
night talk about how this Republican Party is getting brutalized by the 
polls in the area of public opinion, I have to tell the Members that I 
am very encouraged, because it appears that we have won the debate. To 
hear Democrats talking about fiscal responsibility in 1999, talking 
about the deficit, talking about staying away from tax increases, these 
are the very things that got me to Washington in 1994.
  I remember back in 1993 when the new President, who was elected by 
promising to reduce the deficit by cutting spending and cutting middle 
class taxes, came forward and he increased taxes, and actually gave us 
one of the largest tax increases in the history of this country.
  I ran because of that, and I have to tell the Members, when I ran in 
1994 I talked about the deficit. I talked about the need of cutting the 
deficit, cutting spending, reducing the size of Washington, and 
creating an explosive economy that would lift all boats.

[[Page 2223]]

  What happened? In 1994 when I came to town we had deficits 
approaching $300 billion. Now, of course, we are moving towards a true 
surplus. In 1994 interest rates were about 3 percent higher. The last 
gentleman who spoke, who I agreed with, the last gentleman who spoke 
talked about how in 1997 they came up with a budget plan that would 
balance the budget by the year 2002.
  Actually, I remember when we got here in 1994 and we were sworn in. 
In early 1995 the chairman of the Committee on the Budget, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. John Kasich) invited the Fed chairman Alan 
Greenspan to come and testify on Capitol Hill about the long-term 
effects of balancing the budget, under our plan of balancing it by 
2002.
  Alan Greenspan looked at the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Kasich) 
and said, ``If you only have the political courage to move forward and 
balance the budget by 2002, we will see the fastest peacetime economic 
expansion since the war.''
  What was the President's response? The President, who now talks about 
how he is this great fiscal disciplinarian, the President came out in 
1995 and said balancing the budget by 2002 would destroy the economy, 
would wreck all the economic growth that we were fighting for.
  I do not say this to say that the Republicans exclusively are 
responsible for this strong economy, or the fact that we are now 
playing surplus politics, because really, there is enough credit to go 
around.
  What I am saying is there is a danger of us sitting here today in 
1999 and rewriting history. There is a danger that we forget just how 
hard we had to fight this President, who was willing to veto every 
appropriation bill, shut down the government, turn around and blame it 
on us, because he said our plan to balance the budget by 2002 would 
destroy the economy.
  Let me tell the Members, history has shown that we were right, and 
that, more importantly, Alan Greenspan's prediction in 1995 was 
correct. At the same time that the President was saying that balancing 
the budget in 7 years would destroy the economy, the Fed chairman was 
saying, ``Go ahead. Do it. Damn the political torpedoes. Take that 
opportunity to balance the budget. The markets will respond.''
  As the last gentleman said, they have responded. Interest rates 
continue to fall, the stock market continues to explode, and the great 
news is that unemployment among minorities is dropping to a record low. 
Unemployment across the country is dropping to record lows. Again, I 
see this as a very, very positive sign that all the things that we 
fought for in 1995 were really worth fighting for.
  I have to tell the Members, these past two Members who spoke are 
people who came after 1995 and 1996, and when they team up with other 
conservative Democrats to join up with those of us that believe the 
deficit and the long-term debt really is a drag on the economy, I think 
that all things are possible as we go into this new century. Again, I 
am very, very encouraged.

                          ____________________