[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 136]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          A REAL BALANCED BUDGET MEANS DEBT WILL NOT INCREASE

  (Mr. SMITH of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, it is important that the American 
people understand tonight, when we will hear the President brag about a 
balanced budget and paying off the debt, what is really involved. For 
the American people to understand that, the press has got to start 
understanding what a balanced budget is and the fact that our total 
debt of this country, the public debt of this country, is going up 
every year.
  The suggestion is that we simply increase our borrowing from Social 
Security to reduce the so-called Wall Street debt. The current debt to 
this country, as defined in law, is $5.72 trillion. It is important 
that everybody understand we are not going to have a real balanced 
budget until the total debt of this country does not continue to 
increase.

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