[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 528]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        FROM SURPLUS TO DEFICIT

  (Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, the House Committee on the Budget 
had a hearing yesterday with the Congressional Budget Office. So it was 
about numbers, and normally numbers are boring and benign, but this 
laid out a nightmare scenario.
  When President Bush took office, the Clinton administration, in 
concert with the Congressional Budget Office, estimated that there 
would be a surplus over the next 10 years of $5.6 trillion. We now have 
an estimate for the next 10 years not of a surplus but of a cumulative 
deficit of $4.8 trillion. What a fiscal reversal! Over $10 trillion.
  I suppose we do not have to worry much about it because it is really 
going to be heaped on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We 
will retire on Medicare and Social Security before we will have to pay 
this number off.
  For this fiscal year the Clinton administration had us in line to 
have a surplus of $400 billion. We now will have a deficit of $477 
billion.
  Getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a good thing to do. Tax cuts are 
always a popular thing to do. But somebody, someday is going to have to 
pay the piper. And I guess we've decided that somebody should be our 
kids after we retire. This is unfair. It is immoral, and it is 
irresponsible for this party to be such willing partners to this 
injustice.

                          ____________________