S7234 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE May 23, 1995 

My knowledge and friendship with 

the late departed Les Aspin began 

when I was Secretary of the Navy. He 

was off frequently as a severe critic of 

the Department of Defense during that 

period of time. 

And I remember so well Melvin Laird 

was then Secretary of Defense and had 

a great respect and friendship for Les, 

but Les was a strong critic in those 

days. Now in hindsight, maybe some of 

his criticism was well-taken. 

I yield the floor. 

f 

BUDGET RESOLUTION SUPPORT 

Mr. DEWINE. Mr. President, I rise 

today to offer my strong support for 

the Senate budget resolution proposed 

and brought forward by Chairman 

DOMENICI. 

Let me first start by congratulating 

the chairman for the absolutely tremendous job he has done. I am sure 

that there is not a Member of this body 

who would write the budget the identical way that the committee has written. I do not suppose the chairman 

would, either. I think he has done a 

great job. I want to congratulate him. 

This is a historic moment. It is a moment where we will really determine 

whether this Congress has the courage, 

has the wisdom, to do what we all 

know we have to do. 

Let me also congratulate my friend 

from Ohio, JOHN KASICH, chairman of 

the Budget Committee in the House of 

Representatives. He has done a great 

job, as well. For both of them and for 

the Senate this is a historic moment. 

What I would like to talk about this 

evening, Mr. President, is the issue of 

this budget and how this budget that 

we will be voting on tomorrow, affects 

young people, affects children. 

The truth is that we simply have to 

change the direction of this country. 

We have to face reality. We have to 

face the fact that America has a fundamental choice between two different 

futures: A future of responsibility and 

fiscal sanity on the one hand; or a future of economic catastrophe. 

Catastrophe is a pretty harsh word, 

Mr. President, but I think it is accurate. When we fail to balance the budget for 26 consecutive years, when we 

add to the national debt until we are 

paying more in interest than we are 

paying for national defense, and when 

we have a debt that is nearly $5 trillion—$5 trillion—and no end in sight, 

what we have is a catastrophe. A catastrophe in the making. No more, nor 

less. 

Mr. President, what we are really 

talking about is not dollars and cents. 

What we are talking about is our children and the quality of their lives. The 

sad fact is, Mr. President, that today 

to many of our children, America is a 

very tough place to grow up in. 

I have previously come to the Senate 

floor and discussed the issue of our 

children. What I think is the biggest 

crisis facing this country is what is 

happening to our young people. Many 

of our young children are growing up in 

good conditions, but too many of them 

live in an environment that makes it 

very, very difficult for them, very problematic, as to whether they can succeed. 

I have talked about this. I talked 

about the fact that this is the first generation in our history whose life expectancy is no greater than their parents because of deaths from auto accidents, deaths because of drugs, homicides. 

A generation where young children 

are being born, one-third of all children 

being born today to parents who are 

not married; two-thirds of the children 

born in our inner cities are born to parents who are not married. 

Probably, Mr. President, the most 

disheartening fact of all, is probably 

something that was encountered last 

year by the Presiding Officer as he 

traveled through the State of Missouri 

campaigning, as I found traveling the 

State of Ohio, and that is that people 

today do not believe their children will 

have a better life than they had. They 

do not believe the standard of living for 

their children will be even as good as 

they had. That to me is the most disheartening fact of all. 

What do we do? Government has a 

role. I introduced my crime bill last 

week. I talked about the fact I was targeting money for more cities and for 

police officers to go in there, because 

too many of our young people live in 

an unsafe environment. 

I will continue to talk about that in 

the months ahead. It is not just Government. We all have a responsibility. 

Communities have a responsibility. 

There are things Government can do 

and things that Government cannot do. 

What I want to talk about specifically tonight is one thing that sometimes we forget does impact on children. That is the huge spending, the 

huge national debt, and the huge tax 

burden that we are placing on this generation of parents and on the next generation of our children when they grow 

up. 

We are dealing, Mr. President, with a 

sad fact that the U.S. Congress makes 

the situation worse for our children by 

throwing away so many of America’s 

resources in an utterly irresponsible 

manner. To pay for Congress’ reckless 

spending, the Federal Government has 

to take far too much money from the 

parents of these children. 

When my parents were growing up in 

the 1930’s, their families had to work 

on an average until March 8 of every 

year to pay for Congress’ spending. By 

the time I was growing up, and my wife 

Fran was growing up in the 1960’s, a 

typical family had to work until April 

16 to pay the taxes. Today, 1995, American families have to work until May 6 

to pay their taxes. That is money that 

is stolen from families, stolen from 

children. 

Sometimes it feels like America’s 

parents are in a tug of war with the 

Federal Government for the resources 

they need to raise their children. 

Frankly, Mr. President, I am sure they 

feel on many days that the Government is winning. 

This budget begins the process of restoring the resources to the parents. It 

is only a beginning, but it is a necessary beginning. We ask parents today 

to do a lot. 

It is time for this Congress and this 

Government to stop hindering their efforts and to start helping. I think we 

sometimes forget, Mr. President, the 

tremendous burden the taxes place on 

the American family today and how 

many of the decisions of that family 

are made, forced to be made, because of 

that burden. Decisions about whether 

the mother, the father, both work; 

whether one spouse holds down two 

jobs or three jobs. All these things are 

impacted by the Federal tax burden. 

The Government impacts these families and puts a tremendous burden on 

these families. 

Mr. President, I have talked about 

the fact that for some children it is not 

easy being a kid in America today. We 

have a lot of problems. Yet we continue 

to let the Federal Government deprive 

young parents of the resources they 

need. 

Mr. President, if we do not act now 

and pass this budget resolution, it will 

get a lot tougher to change things in 

the future. If we keep spending at this 

rate, by the year 2012, 17 years from 

today, there will be nothing—nothing—

left in the budget for discretionary 

spending on our domestic needs. Zero. 

Every last cent in the Federal budget 

will go to entitlements and interest 

payments. Think of that: Every cent 

will go to entitlements and interest 

payments. 

Mr. President, those interest payments did not go to our children. They 

do not go to the kids. I do not think it 

is a surprise or a secret to also indicate 

to this body that, frankly, neither does 

most of the entitlement spending, either. 

Mr. President, just a year before that 

year 2012, our grandson, Albert, will 

graduate from high school. In that 

year, our daughter, Anna, if things 

work out, will be in her first year of 

college. If we do not act today, Albert 

and Anna’s generation will pay a severe human cost. 

Between today and the year 2025, the 

Federal debt per person will continue 

to rise year after year after year. 

Today the debt on each person is approximately $18,500. 

In the year 2025, it is going to be 

more than $60,000 for every single man, 

woman, and child in America. 

Look at the modest sacrifices this 

budget resolution proposes, so that we 

can balance the budget. Then look at 

the incredible sacrifices that our children will have to make if we do not. 

In this budget, we slow the rate of increase of fast-growing programs. 

The alternative is a $60,000 debt burden for every person in America. 

It is a clear choice, Mr. President. 

The longer we delay, the more it is 

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May 23, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE S7235 

going to hurt. I say, let our day of 

reckoning be now, before it really 

hurts. 

Many of the Senators speaking here 

on the Senate floor have focused on the 

pain that is contained in this budget 

resolution. But here are the facts. 

We are not going to touch Social Security. 

We are going to let Medicare funding 

increase, by an average of 7 percent. 

Each year, over the next 7 years. Let us 

look at children’s programs. 

Chapter 1. No cut. 

Head Start. No cut. 

Special education. Spending actually 

increases. 

Women, Infants, and Children. Spending goes up. 

School breakfast. Spending goes up. 

School lunches. Spending goes up. 

Over the next 7 years, we propose 

spending $815 billion on the following 

major means-tested programs affecting 

child welfare: Food Stamps. Earned income tax credit. AFDC and child care. 

Supplemental security income. Child 

nutrition. 

For many reasons, this is a child-oriented budget. 

This budget is designed to make 

tough choices now, so that our children 

will not have to face a lot tougher set 

of choices tomorrow. 

Contrary to a lot of the rehetoric, we 

are not taking a meat-ax to this budget. What we have here is a scalpel. 

America’s fiscal policy today is on a 

glide path toward total collapse. I 

think a better way of saying it is we 

are on a glidepath to crash the plane. 

Anyone who looks at this budget and 

complains about deep cuts is on a collision course with reality. 

If you think there are deep cuts in 

this budget—wait till you see the cuts 

that are going to be necessary, a few 

short years from now, if we do not pass 

this budget. 

On the Senate floor, this budget resolution has been called a lump of coal 

for America’s children. To call that absurd would be an understatement. 

The alternative to this sensible, 

child-oriented budget is the bankruptcy budget that’s already scheduled 

for the year 2012. That bankruptcy 

budget will become a reality for our 

children unless we act now. 

To leave our children flat busted 

broke, less than two decades from 

today, would be a cruel act of child 

abuse. 

Fortunately, the American people 

gave us a clear mandate last November. It was a mandate for change. When 

the debt is nearly $5 trillion, and bankruptcy is less than 20 years away, it is 

time to change course; to choose the 

future over the past; to do something 

that will earn the gratitude of the next 

generation of Americans. 

Mr. President, the future of our children depends on the choices we make 

in this budget. Speaking for the people 

of Ohio, I think we are ready to do 

what is right. 

Let us rescue our children’s future. 

The first step is to pass this courageous budget resolution. 

This is a moment of history. Each 

one of us in our daily lives, in our public lives, does things. We do things that 

we think are important. Frankly, I do 

not know there is anything we as individuals in our public life, or we collectively in the U.S. Senate, can do that 

will do more to change the direction of 

this country to have a positive impact 

on our children and their children, 

than to pass this budget. 

I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia. 

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish 

to compliment our distinguished colleague. It was well delivered, the set of 

comments. Indeed, I felt he explained 

with great clarity precisely what it is, 

namely the objective on this side in 

trying to proceed to reach a balanced 

budget. 

I would like to address another aspect of this budgetary problem. Today, 

under the leadership of the chairman of 

the Armed Services Committee and 

Senator MCCAIN, we had a debate regarding the need for additional funding 

in this resolution for our national defense. I participated in that, as did 

every single Republican on the Armed 

Services Committee. I am pleased to 

say the distinguished ranking member 

of the Armed Services Committee, the 

Senator from Georgia, Mr. NUNN, likewise participated and indeed supported 

the amendment. The amendment was 

also coauthored by the Senator from 

Texas, [Mrs. HUTCHISON]. 

I would like to expand on some of the 

points that we made during the course 

of the debate today. I commend particularly the Senator from New Mexico, Senator DOMENICI, for his courageous proposal to balance this budget 

in 2002, but I regret that Senator 

DOMENICI was not able to put in that 

budget for the Senate, a level of funding which more closely matched that 

arrived at by the House of Representatives. 

Mr. President, I am concerned about 

the security of our Nation as is every 

Member of the U.S. Senate. We face a 

world that has dramatically changed in 

the period that I have been privileged 

to serve here in the U.S. Senate. During the period where we had the cold 

war with the Soviet Union, we were 

able to make calculations with considerable precision as to the risk this Nation faced from communism led by the 

Soviet Union and its satellite Warsaw 

Pact nations, and develop in the course 

of time the exact weaponry that we believed was necessary to deter that risk. 

And, together with our allies in NATO, 

we did achieve the goal of maintaining 

peace in the European Continent in 

that period at the close of World War II 

until today. But with the demise of the 

Soviet Union, the risk became more 

difficult to calculate, and indeed, the 

range of weapons that this Nation 

needs and the level of the Armed 

Forces required to put in place the deterrent is far more complicated. 

We now have experienced 10 consecutive years of lowering defense numbers. 

I repeat that—10 consecutive years. 

And we are now faced with a budget 

resolution that would make it 11 consecutive years. 

As we speak here tonight, our Armed 

Forces are preparing, in a sense on 

standby, for the possibility of a mission quite different than that we envisioned during the days of the cold war, 

but no less inherent the risk of the 

men and women in the Armed Forces 

who may be called on to perform this 

mission. And that is the mission to assist the United Nations and NATO in 

withdrawal of the forces from that geographic area once known as Yugoslavia, namely the UNPROFOR forces. 

I happen to be of the opinion that 

those forces have performed a successful mission. It is true that combat still 

rages, tragic killings, particularly in 

Sarajevo still go on. But had it not 

been for the presence of the 

UNPROFOR ground forces—and I wish 

to include, Mr. President, the very valuable and essential contribution of the 

U.S. forces in the air, protective role, 

and the sea role—which closed the 

ports going into the Pelagruz. 

This past Friday, for an example, an 

article appeared in the Virginia Pilot. 

That article was entitled ‘‘Naval Reserve Jets Activated for Duty in Bosnia 

Combat.’’ That should really have read, 

‘‘activated for standby duty’’. But, nevertheless, they were activated. May I 

read just a paragraph or two? 

For the first time since the Vietnam War a 

squadron of Naval Reserve warplanes is 

being activated and sent to the Mediterranean to join military operations over Bosnia. 

The deployment is part of the Pentagon’s 

plan to rely more on the select Reserves during the military’s downsizing. 

That is a decade of downsizing that I 

addressed earlier. 

This particular squadron is one I am 

familiar with, given they are in my 

State, and operate EA–6P’s, which have 

a critical role in the suppression of 

what we call ground-to-air threats. 

They are few and far between, these 

aircraft in our inventory today. When a 

special mission like this occurs, we 

have to call on the Reserves and the 

Guard. I certainly wish to commend 

the role of the Reserves and the Guard 

in many operations in that conflict. 

For example, I made two trips down 

into Sarajevo, and each time the transportation was provided by C–130’s from 

Zagreb, Croatia, into Sarajevo and Air 

Guard units operated those aircraft. 

The crews were Air Guardsmen who 

had volunteered to come back on a period of active duty, some 6 months, 

some 12 months, and fly those dangerous missions. Indeed, those missions 

were dangerous. On my first trip in, regrettably, the aircraft right behind 

us—and they were staggered about 

every 30 to 40 minutes to an hour. They 

were staggered. The aircraft behind us 

was shot down with the loss of life. 

That is the type of risk that the Guard 

and Reserve units have taken. 

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S7236 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— SENATE May 23, 1995 

Whether or not you believe that we 

should put U.S. forces at risk to carry 

out this ground mission, namely to 

help extract UNPROFOR, if the decision is made—and as yet it has not 

been made by the United Nations nor 

NATO—I am certain that the Members 

of the U.S. Senate will want to support 

the President, and provide that aid 

that is necessary to perform the extraction of those troops from the 

ground areas. 

I am also certain that every Senator 

in this Chamber would support funding 

to ensure that our forces are trained 

and equipped to facilitate that extraction. That is the type of thing we are 

talking about here. 

Last year we had to provide a supplemental. There is no way the President 

nor the Secretary of Defense can anticipate the contingency operations 

and the level of funding associated 

with those operations. That is why we 

must fully fund the basic budget of the 

Department of Defense and rely less 

and less on the supplemental type of 

funding. 

We learned in Operation Desert 

Storm that well-trained troops 

equipped with modern weapons and 

equipment suffer fewer casualties if 

they are properly trained, properly 

equipped, and properly supported 

logistically. That is what we are talking about in seeking this added funding. 

I regret that the Senate did not 

adopt that amendment today, and 

somehow we will have to revisit this 

issue and do the very best we can to 

make sure that the men and women of 

the Armed Forces today are as 

equipped, trained, and otherwise supplied as we have done historically 

throughout these many years since 

World War II for our forces who volunteer, All Volunteer Forces. 

Mr. President, I yield the floor. 

Mrs. HUTCHISON addressed the 

Chair. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. 

SANTORUM). The Senator from Texas. 

Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I 

want to commend the Senator from 

Virginia. I agree with him wholeheartedly. I think when we are here on 

the floor debating some of the toughest 

decisions that we are ever going to 

make in our lifetime, that these 

things, like the defense budget that 

lost today on the floor, will be coming 

back. We will be able to continue to debate the role of defense, and I think 

when we finish this bill that we will see 

a little shifting of the priorities towards stronger national defense for 

just the reasons that the Senator from 

Virginia states, that we have things 

coming up that were unforeseen that 

are not put in the budget, like the need 

for American troops to help with the 

U.N. evacuation of Bosnia, which seems 

to be a possibility on the horizon. 

But the point is that these things are 

going to happen, and we are going to 

have to budget in a way that allows for 

those eventualities and those emergencies. 

So, I think the point here is that we 

are here tonight talking about some of 

the toughest decisions that we are ever 

going to make. We are trying to do the 

responsible thing. 

I appreciate the Senator from Virginia and his leadership in the national 

defense area. I appreciate his coming 

out tonight to talk about those priorities. 

So, I thank the Senator. 

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, if I 

could ask the Senator from Texas to 

yield just for a moment. 

Mrs. HUTCHISON. I am happy to 

yield. 

Mr. WARNER. We are fortunate that 

we have the services of the Senator 

from Texas on the Armed Services 

Committee. She was one of the three 

sponsors of the amendment today to 

try to adjust this funding upward. As 

we talked, she did so because of the 

briefings we had before the Armed 

Services Committee. Indeed, the Presiding Officer this evening is a member 

of the Armed Services Committee, the 

Senator from Pennsylvania. We have 

been briefed on the proliferation of 

weapons of mass destruction, an everincreasing threat, the proliferation of 

short-range ballistic missiles. 

We have also been advised by General 

Clapper, of the Defense Intelligence 

Agency, that there are no less than 60 

geographic areas in the world today 

which he considers—repeat, which he 

considers—could erupt into the type of 

combat which might require the necessity for the intervention of our allies, 

or, indeed, possibly the United States. 

So I thank the Senator from Texas 

for joining this debate tonight, and 

particularly commend her for her leadership today on an amendment to try 

to restore some of the funding. 

Mrs. HUTCHISON. I thank the Senator from Virginia. I am very pleased 

to have him in support. 

I want to yield the floor to the Senator from the State of Washington because I know he has been very active in 

the budget debate trying to save the 

Medicare system for the people of this 

country. 

That is what we are doing. That is 

what we have been doing this week and 

what we are going to be doing in the 

next few days. We are going to be doing 

the things that are necessary to save 

the Medicare system so that when our 

future generations need this care, it 

will be there because we have done the 

responsible thing this week in the Senate. 

So I am happy to yield to the Senator from Washington. 

Mr. GORTON addressed the Chair. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington. 

f 

A MOST CONSEQUENTIAL VOTE 

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, this 

Senate is now less than 24 hours from 

one of the most consequential votes it 

has taken literally in decades. Sometime late tomorrow, it will have the 

opportunity for the first time in more 

than 25 years to vote for a budget resolution which will very clearly and very 

decisively put this country on a path 

to a balanced budget. Already, we have 

seen the positive impact of the very 

fact that this debate has begun. We 

have seen it in an increase once again 

in the value of the dollar, a value that 

collapsed on the occasion of the failure 

of the balanced budget amendment. We 

have seen it in lower interest rates, 

lower interest rates that mean that 

more and more Americans now can 

purchase the home of their dreams, can 

borrow money to begin or to expand a 

small business, can begin those businesses which will provide opportunities 

for others. 

This has taken place just because for 

the first time the people of the United 

States believe that this new Congress, 

the House and the Senate, are serious 

about terminating a state of affairs in 

which each year we add $200, $250, and 

$300 billion to the burdens imposed 

upon our children and grandchildren 

for spending for programs we are unwilling to pay for. 

And yet, in spite of the lip service 

given by almost all Members to the abstract desirability of a balanced budget, resistance will continue in a rear 

guard action, in close votes on the 

floor of this body, from those who are 

absolutely dedicated to the status quo, 

who feel that while maybe it might be 

a good idea someday to have a balanced 

budget, not, O Lord, in our time, not 

with our votes. Or, if it is desirable to 

do it now, always in a different way 

than that proposed by what I confidently expect to be a majority of this 

body tomorrow evening. 

Now, Mr. President, I do not think it 

appropriate for us to disguise the fact 

that there will be programs reduced, 

cut, the growth slowed in programs 

that provide desirable dollars for a 

wide range of interest groups in this 

country, and they will let their views 

be heard. They are represented eloquently by Members of this body who 

can see the trees or perhaps the leaves 

on the trees but not the forest itself, 

for whom a balanced budget, fiscal responsibility, the exercise of a moral responsibility to our children and grandchildren not further to subject them to 

debt is less important than a particular 

group or a particular program. 

And so this contest which began at 

the beginning of this Congress and will 

reach one of its climactic votes tomorrow is a contrast between those who 

believe in, who speak for, who demand 

a different and more responsible direction for this country and those who, 

like the President of the United States, 

simply believe that the status quo is 

perfectly all right. Their view is the 

single worst thing we could possibly do 

would be to return a single dollar now 

being taken in the form of taxes from 

any group in the American people to 

the pockets of those American people 

even if that dollar came from a fiscal 

dividend resulting from a balanced 

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