Cord Byrd: “And with the expiration of the fiscal year came some most welcome and almost unbelievable news that, for the first time…”

“And with the expiration of the fiscal year came some most welcome and almost unbelievable news that, for the first time since 1969, the unified Federal budget was in surplus for Fiscal Year 1998. We do not know the exact figures yet. That will not be known until the Treasury Department completes its calculations of actual revenues and expenditures that occurred up through midnight, September 30, but we do know that the latest estimate by the Congressional Budget Office of that unified budget surplus is $63 billion. The President has announced that the official administration projection of the Fiscal Year 1998 unified budget surplus is about $70 billion. This unified budget surplus, whether it be $63 billion, or $70 billion, or some other figure, is a result of a dramatic turnaround from the massive budget deficits that were projected just a few short years ago.”