[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 460]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            CONGRESS SHOULD PUT ITS FINANCIAL HOUSE IN ORDER

  (Mr. MOORE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, it is time we put our financial House in 
order. We have the opportunity for the first time in a generation to do 
the right thing for ourselves, for our country, and for future 
generations.
  We must begin to conduct our financial affairs in this country the 
way families across America have for years and years. For years they 
have observed three very simple but unspoken rules: Number one, do not 
spend more money than is made. Number two, pay off debts. And number 
three, take care of basics.
  The basics for our country, Mr. Speaker, are Social Security, 
Medicare, national defense, and a number of other things that we could 
all talk about here.
  Our willingness to do the right thing now will pay tremendous 
dividends to us now and to our children and grandchildren in the future 
in terms of lower interest rates, and in terms of $243 billion that we 
paid in 1998 as interest on the national debt.
  If we do this now, Mr. Speaker, we will do a tremendous thing for our 
country, and I ask all of my colleagues in Congress to join with me in 
an effort to begin the debate to pay down our national debt.

                          ____________________