My mother would walk rather than take a bus, just to save 50 cents. I'm proud to serve in a Congress where our goal has been to make America better, with our childrens' future as our guiding star. As we approach the 21st century, we must all be part of an effort to guarantee the promise of a brighter future for all of those who will follow us. A big part of that promise has been our work to balance the budget. You may think the budget is simply about numbers and green eye shades, but it's far more important than that.
Budgets are about ideas, values, and most important, they are about people.
We've put our faith and trust in people in neighborhoods, communities, and families. We know that you, America, can develop better solutions to local problems at less cost than Washington bureaucrats. We can reclaim our neighborhoods, we can reclaim our communities and we can rebuild our families and ensure that our childrens' future will be protected. Americans won a great victory for common sense when Congress passed the welfare reform bill last month. We've all known for years that Washington hasn't gotten it right, that we can only make welfare work by running it where we live.