[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5392]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        PRESIDENT'S BUDGET ACTUALLY EXPANDS ENTITLEMENT SPENDING

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, how soon we forget. President Clinton 
just 3 years ago proposed a five year budget that would have added $1.2 
trillion to the national debt. That is $200 billion deficits every year 
for as far as the eye could see.
  The Republicans said no.
  They said no to big government.
  They said no to using phony numbers.
  They said no to a national health care system that his own party 
admitted would have pushed the deficit into the stratosphere.
  So Congress insisted on passing a bipartisan budget that balanced and 
kept the lid on spending.
  Well, here we go again. It is back to budget-busting time.
  Once again, it is going to be up to Congress to act like grownups and 
keep the lid on spending.
  The President's budget actually expands entitlement spending, puts 
the Medicare program in jeopardy only one year after we acted to save 
it, and goes back to tax increases that hurt the economy.
  Tax and spend, tax and spend. No matter how good the White House can 
spin it, and they are very good, this budget is a tax and spend budget 
that takes us in the wrong direction.

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