Jack Kingston: “I would say probably for three real reasons. Number one, in response to the American people in 1997 to get our fiscal…”

“I would say probably for three real reasons. Number one, in response to the American people in 1997 to get our fiscal house in order, we passed a bipartisan budget agreement. I did not support it. I know the gentleman from Wisconsin and many others did not but over 300 Democrats and Republicans joined with the White House to pass this agreement to give us a road for budget restraint in the next couple of years. That is number one. Number two, we have said as recently as last week, no new taxes. On a vote of 419-0, Democrats and Republicans rejected President Clinton's proposals to increase taxes. And number three, despite the fact that the President said in his State of the Union address that we should only preserve 62 percent of the Social Security trust fund, we on the Republican side have insisted on 100 percent, and now many of the Democrats have said, let us protect 100 percent of the Social Security trust fund. So with these three principles colliding, what we are trying to do is balance the budget by reducing spending by about one cent on the dollar.”