Jack Kingston: “despite some obvious unhappiness on the far left, the balanced budget agreement passed yesterday on a vote, a bipartisan…”

“despite some obvious unhappiness on the far left, the balanced budget agreement passed yesterday on a vote, a bipartisan vote, of 333 to 99, an overwhelming number of Democrats and Republicans passed this. It is a budget that balances by 2002. It provides permanent tax relief for the middle class, $500 per child tax credit. Medicare is safe from bankruptcy and solvent completely until the year 2007. We have to look ahead. We, together, on a bipartisan basis need to work for a drug-free America. Drugs are a poison to society, they are involved with crime, violence, spousal and child abuse. We have to address drugs on a bipartisan basis. We have to look forward to education, but the focus on the classroom and learning, and not on the Washington bureaucracy. We also have to look at out-of-wedlock pregnancy. For 15 years the number of out-of-wedlock births has almost tripled. Over 70 percent of all juveniles in State reform institutions were raised in fatherless homes. These are the challenges that lie ahead. We can work best on a bipartisan basis to work toward solutions.”