[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 21014]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                ANOTHER INVITATION FOR DEBT ELIMINATION

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, as you heard my colleague, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Herger), say, it has been 23 days since this 
Congress asked the President to join us in dedicating 90 percent of 
next year's surpluses to paying off the debt; and once again, they 
still have had no response to that request.
  The Clinton-Gore administration made it very clear they have a 
priority on reducing the debt for Third World nations, in distant 
countries away from our shores. Yet they remain silent on this issue of 
debt elimination for our own country, for our own American working men 
and women.
  Under this Republican-led Congress, we have already paid down $350 
billion in debt since 1998, and our plan is to further reduce the debt 
by an additional $240 billion in the year 2001 and completely eliminate 
the debt by 2012, while at the same time preserving and protecting 
Social Security and Medicare.

                              {time}  1015

  Eliminating the public debt is good for the economy and lowers 
interest rates for minor consumers on everything from home mortgages to 
credit cards, saving American families over $5,000 a year.
  Once again, I call upon the President to join me and my colleagues on 
this responsible middle ground to eliminate the public debt and ensure 
a stable future for Americans through generations.

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