H 4802 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE May 11, 1995

THE NATION’S FUTURE TIED TO

BALANCING THE FEDERAL

BUDGET

(Mr. BAKER of California asked and

was given permission to address the

House for 1 minute and to revise and

extend his remarks.

Mr. BAKER of California. Mr. Speaker, balancing the Federal budget is a

noble cause. It is one of the few issues

of our era that demands our full attention. The reason is very simple: moving

the Federal budget into balance is not,

ultimately, a debate about numbers,

programs, agencies or interest groups.

It is a debate about the future of our

country. It is about whether or not we

will leave our children in utter bankruptcy or with the hope of a better tomorrow. Either we tame the deficit

monster that is ravaging our capacity

for economic survival, or the very concept of prosperity will, for most of our

children, be little more than a wistful

memory.

By the early 21st century—a few

years from now—the entire Federal

budget will be consumed by entitlement spending and interest on the national debt. This is the shocking conclusion of the President’s own commission on entitlements. It demands

change—now.

Republicans are committed to capping the growth of Federal spending

and cutting waste in the Federal budget, not to meet an arbitrary deadline,

but for the sake of our children and our

country. That is our mission, Mr.

President. We will accomplish it.

AMERICA NEEDS A NATIONAL

CLEAN AIR ACT

f(Mr. DINGELL asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, as this

body meets today, the conferees are

discussing the rescission bill a number

of substantive changes in the Clean Air

Act; first, to prevent EPA from imposing sanctions on States that violate

the Clean Air Act, no matter how deliberate or egregious the violation; to

eliminate the requirement that new

highway projects funded with Federal

monies must conform to the Clean Air

Act by taking air quality considerations into account; and to eliminate

the requirement that EPA give 100 percent credit to all State inspection and

maintenance programs, no matter how

deficient, how inadequate, or how patently empty those particular programs might be.

These are amendments which eliminate EPA’s sanction authority, and effectively makes the Clean Air Act voluntary. If a State wants to opt out of

the act and allow limitless pollution in

that State, it is allowed to do so. This

is fundamentally inconsistent with the

position that the Congress has taken

time after time for so many years, that

we need a national Clean Air Act to

prevent and to protect our people

against interstate pollution.

WHERE IS THE DEMOCRAT PLAN

TO BALANCE THE BUDGET?

f(Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, I never

cease to be amazed at the speed with

which liberal Democrats are able to

rattle off class warfare rhetoric. It is as

if liberal Democrats get up every morning and drink a specially concocted

bromide which enables them to spew

forth class warfare epitaphs with machine-gun like rapidity.

The most recent example was yesterday when Republicans offered our plan

to balance the Federal budget in 7

years.

But what was the response from the

liberals?

Well, they just about tripped over

themselves to get to the floor to denounce our plan as a devious plot to

benefit the rich at the expense of children, the elderly, and the poor.

Mr. Speaker, the liberals are not

fooling anyone. Even President Clinton’s own Cabinet members admit that

Medicare is going broke. And nobody

denies the existence of the national

debt.

But what have the liberal Democrats

offered? Nothing but a few well-rehearsed class warfare epitaphs.

I only have one question for my

friends on the other side. You know the

problems we face—where is your plan?

DEMOCRATS WILL NOT BALANCE

THE BUDGET ON THE BACKS OF

Where is it?

fSENIORS OR THE POOR

(Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked

and was given permission to address

the House for 1 minute and to revise

and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr.

Speaker, the new Republican majority

has shown great courage and guts, as

we heard from another speaker, to cut

and balance the budget. They are balancing their budget by making significant cuts in Medicare, the cost of living for Social Security, education

funds, and job training funds. That

takes a lot of guts and courage to pick

on the least fortunate of our society.

The Republican majority call their

drastic budget cuts in Medicare slow

growth. Either way, it is less money

for the next 7 years than expected for

the growth in senior citizens, so it is a

cut, whether we call it that or not.

Medicare is not a bank to be raided by

the Republicans, just because they

want to pay for a tax cut.

The Republican majority also

changes the way the Consumer Price

Index is calculated, ultimately cutting

the COLA’s for seniors. I thought our

new leadership told us Social Security

would be sacred.

I want everyone in Congress to know

that Democrats want to work with Republicans, but we refuse to balance the

budget on the backs of Medicare, on

the backs of cost of living for seniors,

or education funding, or the least fortunate of our society.

REPUBLICANS WILL WORK TO

PRESERVE AND PROTECT MEDIfCARE

(Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania asked and

was given permission to address the

House for 1 minute and to revise and

extend his remarks.)

Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, according to the President’s Commission on Entitlements, in about a

decade all Federal revenues will be

consumed by entitlements and interest

on the debt. At that point, the Federal

Government will cease to exist as we

know it: no defense, no law enforcement, no education, no anything outside of entitlements and debt service.

The fact is, there is a problem with

Medicare. By the year 2002, the funds

will be out completely. What could we

do about that? We can work together,

Republicans and Democrats together,

to make sure that we help our seniors,

to make sure that Medicare is sound

and safe and protected.

The fact is, the Republicans do have

a plan. We will be presenting it. We do

expect to have the American people

embrace it, because it is one that is

sensitive to families, sensitive to our

children, sensitive to senior citizens,

and one that will provide the kind of

health care that Americans have come

to expect. The fact is, Republicans will

lead the way to protect, preserve, and

to protect Medicare, and to work with

senior citizen organizations and their

families to make sure that Medicare is

protected. We guarantee that. We will

work on it every day. So help me God,

it will be accomplished.

CLEAN WATER AMENDMENTS OF

f1995

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr.

FOLEY). Pursuant to House Resolution

140 and rule XXIII, the Chair declares

the House in the Committee of the

Whole House on the State of the Union

for the further consideration of the

bill, H.R. 961.

b 1040

IN THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union for the

further consideration of the bill (H.R.

961) to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, with Mr. HOBSON

(Chairman pro tempore) in the chair.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The CHAIRMAN. When the Committee of the Whole rose on Wednesday,

May 10, 1995, the amendment offered by

the gentleman from New York [Mr.

BOEHLERT] had been disposed of, and