Jerry Lewis: “I am very impressed by the presentation by my colleague from Minnesota, Mr. Gutknecht. And to paraphrase his…”

“I am very impressed by the presentation by my colleague from Minnesota, Mr. Gutknecht. And to paraphrase his grandmother, I would say, ``If you do not always do what you have always done, you are not going to get what you always got.'' The objective of the gentleman is not different than our mutual effort to eliminate the deficit. The subcommittee takes this work very seriously. It is very important for all of us to know that the House, particularly this Member, as well as the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Gutknecht] are committed to changing the pattern of spending that have been a part of our past. But that does not mean that we have to overnight tear the heart out of important programs or undermine very carefully crafted efforts to move in the direction of reducing all traditional patterns of spending. What we are about here, in all of these efforts, is to reduce the rate of growth of our government. We all recognize that there are other elements to the government process than just spending. There are growth opportunities in terms of our economy. The taxing system is producing more revenues. Indeed, over time, as we reduce the pattern of spending and the revenues grow, we get to 2002 and we have a balanced budget. That is our objective. The time we suggest that the way to solve the budget is to cut every program, eliminate programs that are very important to people, is the time we have a counterrevolution.”