[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23807]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  UNFUNDED LIABILITIES AND THE 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, the good news is that there are 
indications that we are having an economic recovery. In both the third 
and fourth quarter, we are looking at economic expansion much greater 
than what was earlier predicted. But this still leaves a great 
obligation for this Chamber and the Senate and the White House to look 
at the reality of the situation where we are spending more money than 
what is coming into government. The Congressional Budget Office 
estimates that the last fiscal year of 03 we will have a deficit of 
$562 billion. This fiscal year for 2004, we are going to have a 
deficit, which means spending over and above revenue of $640 billion. 
That does not include the $87 billion for Iraq.
  We need to start looking not only at the debt burden that we are 
leaving our kids and our grandkids, but the unfunded liabilities. These 
are promises that we have made in programs such as Social Security 
where we do not have enough money to pay promised benefits. We need to 
consider all of these unfunded liabilities and the deficit along with 
the mounting cost of servicing this debt. And I hope my colleagues will 
join me in sponsoring my Social Security bill, H.R. 3055.

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