Jack Kingston: “What we have done is we have eliminated, where we can, we have consolidated, we have reduced, and, in spending we have…”

“What we have done is we have eliminated, where we can, we have consolidated, we have reduced, and, in spending we have increased in others, tried to hold the line on. But, for example, there are 163 different Federal jobs training programs, 240 Federal education programs; there are 30 different nutrition programs. Clearly some of these can be eliminated or consolidated so that we can get more money to the needy, where that is required, and balance the budget more than anything. Out of the 13 appropriations bills we have passed, 12 of them in the House, they all move us toward a balanced budget by the year 2002. I wish, and I know you do, I wish we could do it sooner. But we are working on the process. For the first time ever, when we pass that last appropriations bill, the DC appropriations bill, we have passed a budget that moves towards a balanced budget with a clear ending in sight. Unfortunately, as you have pointed out, the folks on the other side of the Capitol, the other body, have not passed a lot of the legislation because not only are we trying to balance the budget, but we are trying to reduce the bureaucracy, reduce the micro-management out of Washington, the regulatory burden, and so forth, and increase personal responsibility. They have not done a thing over there, not one thing. On October 1 the fiscal year ends, and the Federal budget, it is time for a showdown.”