[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21005]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  BEING ASHAMED OF THE FEDERAL DEFICIT

  (Mr. SMITH of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, last Friday the Congressional 
Budget Office came out with their new economic outlook, and I am 
somewhat ashamed as a Republican that it does not look very good in 
terms of what Republicans and Democrats have done in the last several 
years.
  They are estimating for this year, 2003, we are going to run a 
deficit of $562 billion. That includes the $162 billion we are 
borrowing from Social Security, but it also considers what we are 
borrowing from all of the other trust funds. They estimate the deficit 
for 2004, next year, is going to be $644 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, when you realize that it took the first 200 years of 
this country, the first 200 years, to accumulate a debt of $500 billion 
and now we are exceeding that every year, we should be ashamed. I am 
ashamed.
  The gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Myrick) and the Republican 
Study Committee just issued a report that said if Republicans and 
Democrats and the President had stuck to the commitment that we made in 
1966, we would have a balanced budget today, even with the tax cuts.

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