Date: 1997-02-06
Speaker: GORDON SMITH (republican)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. it is an honor to rise In this Chamber to make my first remarks as a U.S. Senator. Id like to begin by paying tribute to Senator ORRIN HATCH of Utah for the leadership he has shown on this issue for many sessions of Congress. to help focus us. the American people. upon this important and overriding issue of balancing our Federal budget. I come to this Chamber. to this service at the Federal level. from the State legislature in Oregonwhere I served as a State senator and as the Senate president. It was our highest priority in the State legislature to balance our budget. Indeed. it was our constitutional responsibility to balance the budget. Every session. we would convene in Salem. coming together as Republicans and Democrats. liberals and conservatives. to have an honest debate about how we spent public money. and what taxes. if any. should be raised or reduced. and how best to be good public stewards. I say it was an honest debate because we did not have the recourse of deficit spending--of going to the credit card of our children. I took pride in the kinds of debates we had. Sometimes they were tough. but always they ended with our budget balanced and Oregons fiscal house being in order. Today we come to a decision about whether or not our Government needs to have the same kind of commitment. that constitutional commitment that we have in most States. My colleague. Senator ALLARD. read repeatedly from the words of Thomas Jefferson. I like Jeffersons words in which he counseled us that it should be unthinkable for us to spend the money of the next generation for our consumption in this generation. Indeed. we have done this to a degree. now. that we begin to hamstring our economy and threaten the future in ways that ought to make us ashamed. During the course of a yearlong campaign. I would go home as often as I could. But always when I did. I was very tired from long hours of campaigning. On one occasion. I sat in my living room and began to fall asleep. My son. who was 6 years old at the time. toddled over to me and tapped me on the wrist. As I was waking up. he asked me the question. "Daddy. can I have your watch when youre dead?" At that time. and since then. I have laughed at that comment many times because it was a question from an innocent child. I have thought humorously about it since and yet. also. soberly. I would like my sons and daughters. and your sons and daughters. to be able to inherit more than just a watch. to be able to inherit the kind of future and the kind of America that we have had. and the kind which we have an obligation to pass on. What drives our need for a balanced budget amendment? Pure and simple. it is the growth in spending that is out of control. It is immoral. It ought to be illegal. I would like to use the growth of four programs to demonstrate how. frankly. when coupled with interest on the national debt. we are spending ourselves into oblivion. The four programs are entitlements. They are important programs. and they have done great things for the American peoplefor the needy and the elderlyto take them out of poverty. Entitlements dont require a vote of Congress each year. And interest on the debt is something we have to pay. again. it is not voted upon. Thirty years ago. in 1967. the Federal Governments spending on these four programsMedicare. Medicaid. Social Security. Federal and military pensions. and then interest on the national debtrepresented just 25 percent of our budget. Ten years later. in 1977. just these four programs. plus interest. had grown to 41 percent of the budget. In 1987. just these four programs. plus interest. had grown to 50 percent of.the budget. In 1997. these four programs. plus interest. have grown to 61 percent of our budget. In 2007. just 10 years from now. they will make up more than twothirds of our Federal expenditures. if we dont change our spending habits now. What will be left. then. for schools. roads and bridges. for police and for our national defense? If we dont do something right now. then each year the deficit will grow higher and higher. We must have a mechanism that will ensure that deficit spending will stop. We must have an amendment that will ensure a balanced budget. I understand. as a former legislator at the State level. how difficult it is to say "no." because whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. you go through the fire and pain of a campaign because you care about people. you want to leave your community better off. Everyone who comes to your door has a legitimate and often heartrending story to tell. And if you could. you would say "yes" every time. But the problem in this Federal city is that we never say "no".when we ought to say "no" for the betterment of our whole society. I spoke about these programs. these entitlements that help our Nations elderly. I believe that to preserve and protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security. we have to have a debate about the whole problem. Many have talked about how Social Security needs to be protected. I share that concern. and I will always talk about that. and I. will vote to protect Social Security. But it is not right to say that this programin order to protect itshould be taken off budget as part of the balanced budget amendment. Not even our current President believes that and. therefore. when speaking about his administrations deficits. always including the Social Security trust funds. There are those in the Senate that say that we should exempt Social Security from the balanced budget amendment. I disagree with that. I say that passing the balanced budget amendment. which both Republicans and Democrats have proposed. is the most important thing we can do to protect Social Security and our seniors. If Social Security balances are exempted. additional cuts will have to be made during years of surpluses. For example. in the year 2002. Congress will already have to save. in order to balance the budget. $188 billion. If those trust funds are exempted. then Congress will have to cut an additional $104 billion from the budget. Thus. Congress will have to radically cut programs by $292 billion. Just making the cuts to reach the $188 billion mark will be difficult. An extra $104 billion will be incredibly difficult and will. undoubtedly. cut discretionary and mandatory programs. many of which will help Americas aged. those 65 and over. What does a balanced budget mean to Oregon. my State. and to your State. and to America? It guarantees that we will be fiscally responsible. It means that we will restrain the rate of growth of deficit spending by the Federal Government. and that we will increase the rate of growth in the private sector. It means that interest rates will be lower for all Americans. That means lower mortgage payments. For example. if you have a $100.000 mortgage payment. on a 30year basis. a 2 percent drop in the interest rate would result in a $140 permonth reduction in your mortgage payments. At the same time. it means lower car payments. For a $15.000. 5year auto loan at 9 percent. this would represent savings of $1.200 over the life of the loan. Well. lower interest rates also means lower interest on your credit cards. On a credit card balance of $1.000. with a rate of 14 percent. it would save you $20. That is real money to real people who have real problems in their lives. It means more money in your pocket. as an American citizen. to be saved. if you choose. for things that are.important to your family. like buying a home. providing for a childs education. for food. for clothing. all the things that real people need more than Government needs them. This isa choice about a brig!ter future for America. I am very pleased that I was able to support a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution in my first remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate. It will send a credible message to all of the world and its economic markets. It will mean longterm economic growth. It will give greater control of our foreignheld debt. It will restore integrity to our budget process. Finally. this debate will show American families that they have a choice for a brighter future. Thank you. Mr. President.