James M. Jeffords: “I rise today to speak on one of the most critical issues of this Congress--balancing our Federal budget. I support the…”

“I rise today to speak on one of the most critical issues of this Congress--balancing our Federal budget. I support the effort to balance the budget over the next 7 years. It is a task that is long overdue, one that we should have tackled long before the Federal debt began to escalate in the early 1980's. Our carelessness in financial planning is a terrible legacy to leave our children and grandchildren. First, I want to commend the two Johns, Senator John Chafee and Senator John Breaux. The ability to develop a budget structure agreeable to enough Senators in the middle to become a model for passage is a daunting task. It has taken hundreds of hours. It has a real chance to be the model to end the balance the budget deadlock. It is probably unrealistic to expect we can get the 1996 reconciliation package revised, but there is a real chance it can be used for the soon arriving 1997 budget. When I voted in the House in 1986 against the balanced budget constitutional amendment I stated at the time we could not wait the number of years required to get it approved by the States. However 10 years later the situation has become much worse. Now I also realize that it is imperative we move forward without the amendment. Any further delay will greatly increase the damage to national economic stability. The basic problem is the increasing cost of entitlement programs. These are programs outside of the appropriations process.”