[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18788]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     PAYING OFF AMERICA'S DEBT SHOULD BE TOP PRIORITY FOR CONGRESS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, Allen Greenspan appeared 
before one of our committees here on Capitol Hill, and he made it clear 
that increased spending was the worst option for using the budget 
surplus we have today. He said very clearly that the first thing we 
should do is pay down the public debt. He said, and I quote, ``If that 
proves politically infeasible, I would opt for cutting taxes.''
  Mr. Speaker, this Nation has a public debt of over $3 trillion. How 
much is $1 trillion? If we borrowed $1 million a day 7 days a week 
every year and we began on the day Jesus Christ was born and went until 
now, we would not yet have $1 trillion.
  We have the opportunity right now to pay off the public debt, and 
that is what our Republican Congress wants to do.
  But the big spenders say we are not spending enough. The President 
wants $40 billion more than we have appropriated, even though every 
dollar we do not pay off as debt our children will have to pay interest 
on.
  Is there any end to the Clinton-Gore administration's thirst for big 
government spending?

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