Cord Byrd: “There is not only a Federal fiscal deficit but there is also an investment deficit. I was at the 1990 summit with Mr.…”

“There is not only a Federal fiscal deficit but there is also an investment deficit. I was at the 1990 summit with Mr. Bush and with the Republican leadership and with the Democratic leadership in both ends of the Capitol. I said at the summit, we have an investment deficit. We need to build up our infrastructure, both human and physical. Any business or company that does not improve its plant and equipment and keep its employees trained to the new mode of manufacturing or production of things is going to go under. Business has to invest. Our country needs to invest. And spending moneys for infrastructure is wise. We just cannot cut everything. During the Reagan years, and up to now, we have continued to cut domestic discretionary spending. It has been cut to the bone. I say to the Senator, we will have cut over the next 5 years--in the 1993 deficit reduction package, we cut Government spending. We cut domestic discretionary spending. And we put the level of spending on a 5-year downward glide. We froze it, meaning that we would not take into account inflation from year to year.”