[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 19179]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            PAYING THE BILL

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Somehow, Mr. President, we have to get a grip on 
ourselves. We ended, at just the end of September, September 30--
October 1 was the beginning of the fiscal year--with a deficit of $132 
billion. No doubletalk about on budget, off budget, or public debt and 
private debt, and all of that. We spent $132 billion more than we took 
in. We have been in a deficit position most of the year, when everyone 
was talking surpluses.
  In August we had a briefing from the Congressional Budget Office to 
the effect that we were going to have a deficit of $104 billion for 
fiscal year 2002. And he updated that, some 10 days ago, and said: 
Rather than $104 billion, I am going to have to add about $120 billion 
to $140 billion. So we are looking at a deficit of at least $224 
billion or $244 billion, for starters. That is without the $40 billion 
we passed in one stimulus measure; $15 billion for the airline measure; 
so $55 billion there.
  There is on course--and everybody is agreed to--an amount, in general 
terms, on defense, in education, and emergency supplementals, and so 
forth, agriculture, of around $25 billion. And now they are talking 
about $75 billion; and that has been restudied, and rather than the 
President's $75 billion, it comes out to around $114 billion. So while 
we are talking about stimulus, we are going into an election next 
November with a deficit in excess of $300 billion, at least.
  I am for paying the bill. I cannot get any support for a value-added 
tax. But when we started other wars we put in a special tax. I was 
reminded, of course, that when President Nixon came into office, he put 
in a 10-percent surcharge on imports. And the distinguished majority 
leader, Mike Mansfield, took my dear wife Peatsy and myself on a 
honeymoon to about nine countries in Europe to consult and console the 
heads of state on why this was necessary. So we went to Finland, 
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, England, Germany, Austria, Italy, 
Spain, Portugal, Morocco and we explained that.
  We put on, in World War II, a tax. But we are going in two different 
dangerous directions. The right direction, of course, is to pursue the 
war; along with that pursuit, a coalition at the homefront of 
discipline, restraint, and sacrifice. When you go to war, you can't ask 
people to lay their lives on the line and then everybody else go to 
Disney World. We better sober up on our talk and particularly with 
respect to tax cuts. Further tax cuts is not going to stimulate but 
enhance the rich. So they are all getting together in a fine cabal 
about we are going to spend so much more and we are going to stimulate 
so much more with tax cuts. But they will have a motion to forgo and 
cancel out those tax increases in the outyears that they want to move 
fast forward. I want to put them on notice.

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