S7232 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE May 23, 1995 

and how it made it very clear to them: 

You do not live beyond your means. 

You just do not do that. 

The interest payments on the national debt are the third largest part of 

the budget. And the interest payments 

do not buy a single school lunch, and 

they do not buy a single road and they 

do not make a single payment on a 

Medicare bill. 

The national debt rises $355,000 every 

minute. In 1 second, $6,000—just now. 

That is how fast this is growing. 

All of this talk about budget cuts, a 

budget cut in Washington means something very different than a budget cut 

in Idaho. In the Nation’s Capital, when 

a Government program asks for a 5 percent budget increase, and it is only 

granted a 3 percent budget increase, we 

do not call that a cut. That is an increase. But that is not how Washington, DC, deals with it. We are simply slowing the growth. The budget 

package that I am backing will bring 

us a balanced budget over the next 7 

years by holding the growth of Government spending to around 3 percent a 

year. 

What about Social Security and 

Medicare? Well, we do not touch the 

Social Security pension trust fund, and 

we should not because it is not the 

problem. Medicare, on the other hand, 

must be fixed. The trustees say that it 

will be bankrupt in 7 years if the escalating growth is not stopped. 

When you think about that, if you 

are now 55 years old after spending a 

lifetime paying Medicare taxes, there 

is no assurance that there will be 

enough money to pay doctor bills when 

you become eligible. That is unacceptable, and that is why we are going to 

deal with that in this budget. 

The next tough issue is taxes. I oppose tax increases, but what about tax 

cuts? I will support tax cuts that meet 

these tests. First, they must not slow 

the effort to balance the budget. And 

second, they must encourage investment, help families with children, help 

small business, encourage savings that 

will pay for college, care for the elderly 

and the purchase of first homes. 

I will just conclude by saying that 

after all of this discussion, I think we 

need to realize that what we are talking about is the money of the American citizen. Again, not the Government’s money. It is time that we start 

leaving more of the American citizen’s 

money with the citizen and not the 

Government. 

This 104th Congress, I think, will go 

down in history as that session of Congress that finally stopped the financial 

decline which would lead to the ruin of 

this country and will return it to a financial stability that we will look 

back to with a great deal of pride some 

day. 

Yes, we have some real tough votes 

that are facing us. But what Idahoans 

tell me is that we absolutely must balance the Nation’s budget and we must 

do it by making it an evenhanded approach so that we can look and see 

that our neighbors also are taking part 

in the sacrifice. As long as all of us are 

sharing in this, this is absolutely the 

right thing to do for this Nation. 

Mr. President, I want to commend 

Senator PETE DOMENICI and all the 

members of the Budget Committee 

that has brought us this budget resolution which is going to put us on that 

course so that we will have financial 

stability, so that the greatest nation in 

the world can look with pride to know 

that its future will be bright, that we 

will avoid that financial collapse we 

have been headed toward and, again, 

that all Members of this 104th Congress 

will know that some day we will be 

judged as that Congress that did the 

right thing by action and not rhetoric. 

Mr. President, I yield the floor. 

Mr. NUNN addressed the Chair. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia. 

f 

GETTING THE BUDGET UNDER 

CONTROL 

Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I would 

just like to say to my friend from 

Idaho, I appreciate his remarks on the 

reasons for getting the budget under 

control and the historic nature of this 

undertaking. I, too, although I certainly do not agree with everything in 

the budget resolution and I have supported a number of amendments and 

will support others tomorrow, I, too, 

want to add my thanks and congratulations to Senator DOMENICI, the chairman of the Budget Committee, and 

others on the Budget Committee, Senator EXON and all who worked so long 

and hard, disagreeing often, but coming out with this budget resolution 

that at least is a beginning point in the 

debate for the road we must travel. 

It is my hope that I will be able to 

support this resolution in the final 

analysis. It will depend on what 

amendments are adopted or not adopted tomorrow. But I certainly hope that 

I will be able to support it. It is my 

hope that when it goes to conference, 

the conference will look carefully at 

what the Senate did today in turning 

down the very large tax cuts that were 

proposed by the Senator from Texas. 

All of us would like tax cuts, all of us 

would like to return that money to the 

American people because it is their 

money, but I think the public overwhelmingly that I represent wants us 

to get the budget under control and 

does not want us to take steps that will 

make that more and more difficult. 

We all know that there is going to be 

group after group coming here this 

summer that are going to be complaining about budget cuts, many of 

them with justification because they 

are going to be impacted. We all know 

that after that process starts, it is 

more likely there is going to be fallback in this regard. We all know that 

we need a reserve fund because we are 

going to have difficulties in implementation based on any historical examination. 

So it is my hope that when the conference takes place, that the message, 

by a strong vote from the U.S. Senate, 

to concentrate on deficit reduction and 

wait until we have really accomplished 

that before declaring a dividend I hope 

sinks in. 

f 

IN MEMORY OF LES ASPIN 

Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I am deeply saddened by the death of my close 

friend and colleague, Les Aspin. Many 

of us in this body have known Les for 

many, many, many years and worked 

very closely with him. 

Les Aspin devoted his life to public 

service. In his younger years, he served 

in the Senate on the staff of our former 

colleague, Senator William Proxmire. 

He also served as staff assistant to 

Walter Heller, the former Chairman of 

President Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisers and on the staff of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. 

Les Aspin was elected to the House of 

Representatives in 1970, and he immediately sought and was granted membership on the House Armed Services 

Committee on which he later served as 

chairman from 1985 through 1992. 

I had the great honor and privilege of 

working with Les since I came to the 

Senate in 1973. From 1987 through 1992, 

we served respectively as chairmen of 

the House and Senate Armed Services 

Committees. During that time, when 

our chairmanships overlapped, we developed a close personal and professional relationship, and we forged six 

National Defense Authorization Acts 

during that period. 

Mr. President, these years were 

marked by national defense challenges 

of great difficulty and complexity. In 

1987, the cold war had begun to thaw, 

but barely so. There were many divisions in Congress on national defense 

issues, ranging from the size of the defense budget to the procurement of particular weapons systems to the appropriate course of national strategy. At a 

time when many sought substantial reductions in national defense commitments and programs, Les Aspin provided a voice for a strong national security and a sensible American foreign 

policy. 

As the former Soviet Union collapsed, many sought to rapidly dismantle our military establishment. Les 

Aspin recognized the continuing dangers facing the United States and successfully led the House of Representatives in support of a measured defense 

builddown, which was designed to 

maintain our military capacity in an 

era of defense reductions. Les was a 

particularly forceful advocate for defense conversion and retraining programs designed to assist military personnel, civilian workers, and the defense industry in adjusting to a new 

era with new challenges. 

Les was also both an originator and 

strong supporter in the House, and as 

Secretary of Defense, of the program 

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May 23, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE S7233 

that is known as the Nunn-Lugar program that works for nuclear and chemical dismantlement in the former Soviet Union that has been so effective in 

helping denuclearize three former nuclear states and also helped in dismantling both chemical and nuclear weapons. We have a long way to go in that 

regard, but Les Aspin was on board 

when that ship was launched, which is 

probably our most important national 

security challenge—that is, nonproliferation in the breakup of the Soviet empire. 

During this entire period, I developed 

tremendous respect for the breadth of 

Les Aspin’s knowledge and his devotion 

to the cause of national defense. Les 

was a brilliant analyst, but he was 

more than a scholar; he was an outstanding legislator and a master at 

putting together coalitions in the 

House of Representatives during a very 

tough period of time for national security. 

I will always treasure the memories 

of working with Les on the House-Senate conferences on the National Defense Authorization Act that were enacted during the period in which we 

chaired our respective committees. The 

challenge of crafting a conference 

agreement was always daunting in the 

contentious atmosphere of the cold war 

and post-cold-war eras. Each year, hundreds of language and funding differences divided the two Houses—and 

we were continually faced with the 

threat of a veto over controversial 

issues such as the ABM Treaty, abortion, and prerogatives of the executive 

branch. 

Les and I talked on the telephone and 

met very frequently, not just during 

conference but also in the months before we passed either the House or Senate bill. These meetings were quiet and 

unpublicized, but they enabled us to 

shape bills in both the House and the 

Senate which could be reconciled in 

conference and also signed into law by 

a Republican President. 

Much as I appreciated and admired 

Les Aspin’s policy and legislative 

skills, what I enjoyed most about Les 

was his sense of humor. Frequently, 

when a conference point reached its 

most critical point, we could count on 

a story from Les to break the tension 

and produce a bipartisan compromise. 

Nobody loved a joke more than Les 

Aspin, and I can still see that big grin 

on his face laughing heartily in the 

middle of a conference right at a crucial moment, which gave us the kind of 

balance, the kind of sense of priorities 

to understand that it was our job to 

reconcile our differences and to come 

to conclusions in the interest of national security. He never lost sight of 

the serious policy issues that confronted us, but he never got personal in 

his fervent support for one position or 

another. 

Les Aspin served as Secretary of Defense during a particularly difficult 

time. I enjoyed working very closely 

with him and his staff during his tenure as Secretary of Defense. Lacking a 

cold war enemy and a national consensus on defense issues, Les was faced 

with the extraordinary challenges of 

managing a defense builddown while 

retaining essential military capabilities. The complex and new international circumstances surrounding 

events in places such as the former 

Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Haiti added 

to the complexity of his task. Throughout this period, he continued to work 

diligently toward building a new foundation for our defense needs in the 21st 

century. And as Secretary of Defense, 

he laid a foundation for the defense 

drawdown that hopefully will avoid the 

mistakes of the past. At least he did 

his part. 

During his years of service as a Member of the House Armed Services Committee and as Secretary of Defense, Les 

continually fought for a strong, wellequipped, and affordable national security. He was always on the cutting edge 

of national defense policy during both 

the cold war and during the post-coldwar builddown. His creative approaches 

to national strategy, acquisition policies, and defense budget matters have 

made a lasting and indelible contribution to this Nation’s security. 

After his service as Secretary of Defense, he continued to serve our Nation 

as chairman of the President’s Foreign 

Intelligence Advisory Board, as chairman to the Commission on Intelligence, and as a member of the Commission on Roles and Missions of the 

Armed Forces. It was in this capacity 

that I last talked to him on the telephone at length about some of the aspirations he had for changing our intelligence community. Les never lost his 

ardor or his commitment to public 

service. 

Mr. President, the Nation has lost a 

devoted public servant who contributed 

much and who had so much more to 

contribute to our national security. 

I have lost a valued friend and a real 

colleague, a friendship that I will cherish forever, and a man that I will miss 

very much. 

I thank the Chair. 

f 

TRIBUTE TO LES ASPIN 

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I would 

like to associate myself with the comments of our distinguished colleague 

from Georgia. Before he departs the 

floor, I thought we might put in one 

additional chapter in reminiscing 

about our dearly beloved friend, Les 

Aspin. It was a period when the two 

Armed Services Committees met, and I 

was privileged at that time for some 6 

years to serve as ranking member, together with Senator NUNN as chairman, 

and Les Aspin as chairman of the 

House. I remember when we would act 

as the ‘‘big four.’’ If the Senator from 

Georgia will remember that——

Mr. NUNN. Along with Congressman 

Bill Dickinson. 

Mr. WARNER. Yes, Congressman Bill 

Dickinson. There would be absolute 

deadlock in the conferences. The big 

four would sort of get off together, and 

the other members, I think they were 

slightly envious in some respects, but 

in other respects, they were glad they 

did not have to make the decisions the 

big four had to crank out. 

Mr. NUNN. I think many times it was 

like we were the ‘‘little four’’ rather 

than the big four. 

Mr. WARNER. That is correct. But 

my friend from Georgia is a man of 

great patience. Chairman Aspin would 

always be late, almost invariably late, 

and he would come in with a great 

swath of papers under his arm, down 

the hall with two or three staff people, 

and he would literally flop in the chair. 

He would consume the entire chair, and 

the papers would be scattered all over 

the floor. And, finally, the Senator 

from Georgia, who at that time was 

chairman of the Armed Services Committee, would regain his composure 

and we would start to resolve the problems. But it was a marvelous chapter 

in the relationship between the Senate 

and House Armed Services Committee, 

and Les Aspin was instrumental in seeing that we arrived at the proper decision which, almost without exception, 

was in the best security interest of this 

country. In those days, we had almost 

no politics that entered into the decision—occasionally, a ship here or a 

tank there, but other than that, it was 

straightforward, tough decisions on behalf of the country. 

I join my friend from Georgia in saying how much we will miss our friend. 

I was with him just 2 weeks ago. I am 

privileged to serve on the Intelligence 

Commission, and Les Aspin was the 

chairman. We went down to one of the 

Central Intelligence facilities to spend 

a day. And I wish to add, Mr. President, 

that Zoe Baird is a member of that 

commission, and she called me just 

yesterday and expressed her great admiration. I would like to include that 

in my comments for Chairman Aspin of 

the commission. That commission will 

carry on and do its work, but he laid 

the foundation. I join my distinguished 

colleague in paying this brief tribute to 

our fallen friend. 

Mr. NUNN. I thank my friend from 

Virginia. I remember those days very 

well, and I will always cherish the 

memories. I have to say that while Les 

Aspin would consume that chair, my 

friend from Virginia was usually consuming the sofa. 

Mr. WARNER. That is quite true. 

Mr. NUNN. For health reasons, 

though. 

Mr. WARNER. In those days I had a 

bum leg. I think we should end this 

brief set of comments on behalf of the 

late Congressman Aspin with a smile 

on our face, because that is the way he 

would want it. I am glad that my distinguished colleague from Georgia 

mentioned the Bottom-Up Review. 

That was a document that was created 

and is still used as a benchmark for 

many of our discussions here. He had 

that foresight and courage. 

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