Sam Gibbons: “It has been 23 days since this Congress asked the President to join us in dedicating 90 percent of next year's surpluses…”

“It has been 23 days since this Congress asked the President to join us in dedicating 90 percent of next year's surpluses to paying off the debt; and once again, they still have had no response to that request. The Clinton-Gore administration made it very clear they have a priority on reducing the debt for Third World nations, in distant countries away from our shores. Yet they remain silent on this issue of debt elimination for our own country, for our own American working men and women. Under this Republican-led Congress, we have already paid down $350 billion in debt since 1998, and our plan is to further reduce the debt by an additional $240 billion in the year 2001 and completely eliminate the debt by 2012, while at the same time preserving and protecting Social Security and Medicare. Eliminating the public debt is good for the economy and lowers interest rates for minor consumers on everything from home mortgages to credit cards, saving American families over $5,000 a year. Once again, I call upon the President to join me and my colleagues on this responsible middle ground to eliminate the public debt and ensure a stable future for Americans through generations.”