[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13964]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



           THE MEANING OF THE TERM ``A DO-NOTHING CONGRESS''

  (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, I have been wrestling with the phrase of 
``a do-nothing Congress.'' If by ``doing nothing'' the Democrats mean 
that we are protecting the social security trust fund from being raided 
to pay for other big government programs, then they are right.
  Or if they mean we have stopped racking up the national debt and 
borrowing money from our children, yes, I guess they are right there, 
too.
  If they call us ``the do-nothing'' Congress because we have worked to 
lower taxes on married couples and our Nation's seniors, then I guess 
they are right there.
  But if the Democrats' best argument for saying that we do not do 
anything is that we have worked to restrain Federal spending, to 
protect the retirement security for seniors, stop increasing taxes on 
hard-working Americans, then I am willing to take that as a compliment 
from my friends on the other side.




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