Jack Kingston: “the importance of the budget agreement is that we are saying that America is no longer going to debate having a balanced…”

“the importance of the budget agreement is that we are saying that America is no longer going to debate having a balanced budget. We are going to have a balanced budget. Now that we have answered that question, the next part of it is how are we going to get that. I think that is a legitimate debate: What is the role of government going to be; what are the roles of these bureaucracies; is the expenditure something that the private sector could do better? Is it something a nonprofit organization could do, or is it something that the government should do, but on a State or local level, or is it the domain of the Federal Government? These are all relevant questions as we fight to balance our budget. The vision of America is what the actual debate is about. It is not just a matter of liberals versus conservatives or urban versus rural, it is a matter of what is it that we think the Federal Government should be doing, should be offering. Should it be involved with your life to the Nth degree, or should it kind of stand back, and so forth. All this ties into the money debate. As we have it right now, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Kasich], the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Gingrich], and Mr. Domenici and Mr. Clinton and the various players in the House and Senate and the White House have agreed that we will balance the budget by 2002. We have agreed on a number. We have agreed on a downward slope toward it. The beneficiaries of this will be the American families.…”