Date: 1997-05-21
Speaker: BOB SCHAFFER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Colorado

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. This theme that my colleague mentions of the incredible debt that every single American owes right now just to the principal on the debt is something that really gets ones attention when confronted with it. But it is not just that debt. that immediate $20.000 that we all owe today. In fact. I have mentioned this before. My wife and I just had our fourth child a fewer months ago. and on the date of her birth. she owed $19.700 to the Federal debt. That was her obligation. And that is true of any child born today. But we cannot just stop at the debt. Again. that is just the principal. Mr. Speaker. when we look at what that child is obligated to the pay over the course of his or her working life on the interest on that debt. it amounts to approximately3over $200.000. again over the course of that childs working lifeNow. that- is assuming. as the gentleman from Wisconsin pointed out. the red line here. That is if the Government continued to run on as it did until the Republicans showed up here that the interest on that debt would have continued to climb and continue to be an insurmountable burden for every single child in America. But that line is changing and that is really the positive and the optimistic portion that we need to focus on today. We are really changing that number. that $200.000 obligation that we heard over and over and over again on the interest on the debt is contemplated in this budget agreement that we are moving -through Congress right now. We are. in fact. lowering the burden and making it possible to pay that debt off sooner than any Congress prior to us had ever contemplated and ever envisioned. That is really what is exciting. what I hope people focus on and take into consideration as they decide where they may stand on this issue and watch it move through. Mr. Speaker. I would like to point out a couple things. I prepared some notes ahead of time. For those of us who care about children or have children or are concerned about children in our districts and our neighbors children and grandchildren. and so on. I hope we think about them at this particular point. That is the object of our attention when we are constructing this budget and moving it through this process. President Hoover once sardonipally observed. he said. "Blessed are the young. for they shall inherit the national debt." Now. Americans of my generation have frankly done somewhat of a disservice to those children. because frankly. up until just a few years ago. this Congress has not had the courage to pay for the things that we want right now. We figured that my daughters and our children and everybody elses children would not mind paying for the things we want right now. we would just pass the bill on to them. We have not been paying our debt as we go. and we have been shrugging it off on our children. But we must begin to pay as we go before it is too late. before we have condemned our children to a lifetime of exorbitant tax -rates and bankrupt entitlement programs. It is incumbent on all of us as we step up to the plate and take responsibility for our Nations future. We have come a. long way. but we still have a. long way to go. This balanced budget agreement between congressional Republicans and President Clinton is an important first step. but it is no more than. a first step. If we are to ensure the longterm solvency of entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. if we are to ensure that not only that the budget stays balanced but that we begin to pay off that enormous national debt that I spoke of. then there is still much work ahead of us. I would be kidding if I said that all or even most of our disagreements have been resolved. .They have not been resolved. But slowly. steadily we are making progress. And faced with the prospect of government growing larger and larger each year. like a snowball rolling downhill. we have stood in its path. held up our arms. and demanded that it stopped. We have slowed- the runaway growth of Medicare and Medicaid spending and returned more power to the States and to the local governments and to the American people. Everyone knows that the bipartisan balanced budget agreement is not perfect. It does not provide working Americans with as much tax relief as I would have liked to have had. Government spending is not restrained as much as I think it ought to be. Washington. DC. still wields too much power and authority and influence over our lives. and the Federal Government is too large. There is still much work to be done. Returning power and authority back to the States and the communities and individuals themselves. we need to do all that. We are nowhere near being finished. The agreement does represent a good start. It is the first real hope of getting our country olit of the red Ink and back into the path of fiscal sanity. The balanced budget agreement is not perfect. but we still must not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. Every American will feel the practical. realworld effects of a balanced Federal budget through lower interest rates. greater economic growth. and a higher standard of living. In terms of the money in our pockets at the end of the workday. a balanced budget is the greatest tax cut of all. Mr. Speaker. the day we have sought for so long has finally arrived. Of course. there are those on both sides of the debate who are quite unhappy with the bipartisan budget compromise. Much grumbling has been heard from. the peanut gallery. The cynics and the press have taken their shots at the agreement. as well. Fair enough. let them take exception. No one has ever claimed the balanced budget agreement is perfect. But balancing the budget is a goal. It is a goal that is too important to let it elude us once more just because the best agreement that we could reach with the President does not go far enough. It is a start.. Remember. it was 28 years. it has been 28 years since Richard Nixon first took office that we have been trying and failing to balance the Federal books. Enough is enough. We cannot permit the annual flood of red ink to capsize the ship of state. There will be another day to argue for the rest of the Republican agenda. But. today. let us say there will be no more debt. The better part of valor is discretion. We must take other victories small and large as we find them. And this bipartisan agreement with President Clinton is a victory. not only for Republican ideals. but for the American people. Mr. . HULSHOF. If the gentleman would yield. I think the point is significant that 1969 was an amazing year. That was the year that the Mets won the series. It was the year that Neil Armstrong first walked on the surface of the Moon. And it was the last time that the Federal Government passed on to the American people a balanced budget.