[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 25426-25427]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         THEY HAD THEIR CHANCE

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I am not going to talk about Texas. There 
has been plenty of discussion about that tonight. I am going to talk 
about this country. I saw this morning an interview in which Governor 
Bush said: ``They had their chance,'' talking about Vice President 
Gore, of course. ``They had their chance.'' I want to talk about what 
has happened in the last 8 years.
  It is important to remember exactly what the Clinton-Gore 
administration inherited and where we are. They had their chance. Let's 
talk about President Clinton and Vice President Gore.
  In 1993, when they took office, we had a $290 billion deficit that 
year, and it was rising. That deficit was exploding. Our economy was in 
trouble. Economists predicted slow anemic growth for an entire decade 
ahead. That is what the Clinton-Gore administration inherited.
  Now, instead of the largest deficit in history, we have the largest 
surplus in history. Is that an accident? I don't think so. We had a 
vote in this Senate and they had a vote in the House on a new plan to 
take this country to a new direction, and it passed by one vote--one 
vote in the House and one vote in the Senate. Not one member of the 
majority party voted for that in either the House or the Senate. We 
moved this country to a new direction. Now instead of the largest 
deficits in history, we have the largest surpluses in history.
  This is a chart which shows what these deficits and surpluses were 
when Governor Bush said: They had their chance. This is what we 
inherited from President George Bush in 1992 and 1993: red ink that was 
growing every year. This country was choking on deficits, and every 
year, when we changed direction and created a new economic plan to give 
people hope that we would make the tough decisions to turn this country 
around, we have seen lower and lower deficits and finally surpluses. 
That is not an accident.
  They had their chance, Governor Bush said. They turned the biggest 
deficits into the biggest surpluses. How about economic growth? In the 
12 years prior to the Clinton-Gore administration taking office, 
average economic growth was 2.8 percent. Since then, economic growth 
has been on average 3.9 percent.
  Jobs: 1988 to 1992 was one of the worst 4-year periods in history for 
the creation of jobs. In fact, I have a chart that I think will be 
useful to show in terms of the creation of jobs: In the Bush 
administration, 1988 to 1992, 2.5 million new jobs in 4 years. In 8 
years, the Clinton-Gore administration had an economy that rebounded, 
and we had 22 million new jobs created in this country. They had their 
chance.
  How about the unemployment rate? In 1981-1982, Reagan-Bush averaged 
7.1-percent unemployment. Currently, there is 4.1-percent unemployment, 
the lowest level in 30 years.
  Home ownership: From 1982 to 1992, home ownership fell in this 
country. Now it is the highest in history.
  Welfare rolls increased 22 percent from 1981 to 1992. Now they have 
decreased by 53 percent.

[[Page 25427]]

  The Dow Jones was 3,300. Now it is over 10,000.
  Mr. TORRICELLI. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. DORGAN. I will be happy to yield.
  Mr. TORRICELLI. I think the Senator is making an important point, but 
I would like him to supplement it because I, too, have been startled in 
hearing Governor Bush explain they had their chance to enact a 
Patients' Bill of Rights. Indeed, it is my memory that on more 
occasions than I can remember the Clinton-Gore administration, with 
support of Democrats in this House, attempted to have a Patients' Bill 
of Rights.
  I heard Governor Bush say on prescription drugs that we promised it 
and had not delivered it; we had our chance. Indeed, the Clinton-Gore 
administration supported prescription drugs and Democrats supported it 
in the Congress but failed.
  Is my recollection of this correct, that we had our chance, we have 
attempted to do it but, ironically, the people who have stopped it are 
now the same people who constitute the Bush campaign?
  Mr. DORGAN. The Senator is absolutely correct. They had their chance. 
What about the issue of the Patients' Bill of Rights? We were blocked 
by the majority party.
  What about campaign finance reform? We have tried, tried, and tried 
and were blocked by the majority party.
  What about a prescription drug benefit for the Medicare program? We 
have tried and tried and were blocked by the majority party.
  How about the issue of education and providing some help to 
reconstruct and renovate and provide for better schools and better 
classrooms?
  Mr. TORRICELLI. If the Senator will yield, can we focus on that one 
as well because I heard in debates Governor Bush said on education 
Clinton-Gore had their chance. Indeed, the President proposed 100,000 
new teachers repeatedly and has been fighting for it every year--got it 
enacted at one point--including right up to tonight on school 
reconstruction, which has not been supported, to my knowledge, by 
Governor Bush, certainly not supported by his party in Congress. So 
indeed they had their chance on education, and the Clinton-Gore 
administration led on education as they led on health care.
  Mr. DORGAN. The Senator is absolutely correct. We have had the 
longest economic expansion in American history. That did not happen by 
accident. Governor Bush says: Well, gosh, that's due to the American 
people. The American people worked hard in 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984. 
The American people had as much ingenuity, as much tenacity to work 
hard then. But you need public policies in place that help them as 
well.
  The public policies that the Clinton-Gore administration and the 
Democrats in Congress put in place in 1993 said we were going to stop 
these Federal deficits. We had a new fiscal policy. We turned this 
country around.
  The American people understand that when they have hope for the 
future, they do things that reflect that hope. They buy cars; they buy 
homes; and they take vacations. They do the things that represent their 
hope for the future.
  There was not much hope for a long while because every year the 
deficit was getting worse and no one wanted to do much about it, but 
the Clinton-Gore administration came in and said: We have a new plan 
and it will be a little tough. It was hard to vote for--in fact, so 
hard that not one member of the majority party voted for it.
  I see on the floor my friend from Texas, Mr. Gramm, whom we have 
quoted many times. He said: If you pass this plan, this country is 
going to go into a tailspin. Those are not his exact words, but it is 
exactly what he meant.
  Of course, he was wrong. This country passed a new economic plan and 
gave the American people confidence about the future. Guess what 
happened. The largest deficits in history turned into the largest 
surpluses in history. We have had the longest economic expansion on 
record--welfare rolls are down, home ownership is up, inflation is 
down. Almost every basic index in this country is better.
  Mr. DURBIN. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. DORGAN. Yes, I will yield.
  Mr. DURBIN. When the Senator from Texas--Governor Bush's home State--
voted against the Clinton-Gore plan in 1993, he said: ``This program is 
going to make the economy weaker, hundreds of thousands of people are 
going to lose their jobs as a result of this program.''
  Was the Senator from Texas correct as a result of the Clinton-Gore 
plan? Did hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs?
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, the Senator from Illinois asked a question 
about job creation. This administration, during these 8 years, has seen 
22 million new jobs created in this country. In the 4 years prior under 
President George Bush, 2.5 million new jobs were created. You will see 
this is one of the most robust periods of economic expansion in this 
country's history. Is it an accident? No. This administration had a new 
economic plan that said let's move away from growing and choking 
deficits and give the American people some confidence about the future. 
The result of it was that confidence manifested a growing economy that 
created new jobs and new opportunities. Every single feature of this 
economy has become better in the last 8 years, every single one. 
Unemployment, inflation, welfare, home ownership--in every single 
instance, things are better in this country.
  This morning, when I heard the Governor say, ``Well, you have had 
your chance,'' I would say, yes, this administration had its chance and 
it inherited a weak and troubled economy and turned it into a strong, 
vibrant, growing economy, and good for them.
  It did not happen because they took the easy road. This was not the 
easy thing to do. In 1993, when they had the vote on the new plan, it 
passed by only one vote in the House and the Senate. We did not get 
even one vote on the majority side. We took our licks for voting for 
it, but history shows that what we created was the strongest economy in 
this world, and I think Vice President Gore and President Clinton and 
those who voted for that new plan in this Congress can take some pride 
in what the result of that plan has been.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time allotted to the distinguished Senator 
has expired.

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