A FISCAL U-TURN: BACK IN THE HOLE AND STILL DIGGING -- (House of Representatives - November 18, 2004)
GPO's PDF
---
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I joined many of my colleagues in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the official dedication of the William Jefferson
GPO's PDF
Clinton Presidential Center, a place where scholars and all Americans can study the many remarkable achievements of 8 years of the Clinton administration.
As I sat through the dedication ceremonies today, I reflected on the unparalleled economic prosperity that America experienced during President Clinton's tenure. I also could not help thinking about the important matter we would be confronted with on the House floor later in the day, a vote to raise the debt limit for the third time since President Clinton's successor took office. With today's vote, the majority of this House has agreed to a whopping $800 billion increase in the debt ceiling from its present level of $7.38 trillion to $8.18 trillion.
The impending breach of the statutory debt ceiling is the latest warning about the Nation's fiscal health. Our debt has been growing faster than our economy's ability to repay it due in large part to a reckless economic policy over the last 4 years. These policies have undone the hard work it took to balance the budget during the 1990s and have left us awash in a sea of red ink.
At the beginning of the Clinton administration in 1992, the Federal budget deficit was at a historic high of $290 billion, 10 million Americans were out of work, and the Nation's economic growth rate was the lowest in more than half a century. In response, President Clinton and the congressional Democrats worked together to enact the 1993 Deficit Reduction Plan which passed the House and Senate without a single Republican vote. The balanced budget plan demonstrated that guided by common sense and realism, we could slash the deficit in half while also making important investments in our future including education, health care, science, and technology.
The plan included more than $500 billion in deficit reduction and cut taxes for 15 million of the hardest pressed Americans as well as small businesses.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r108:25:./temp/~r108Aq1iJE::
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
