Samuel Nunn: “Frankly, as painful as it is to make these kind of choices, I think the choices are long overdue in terms of our fiscal…”

“Frankly, as painful as it is to make these kind of choices, I think the choices are long overdue in terms of our fiscal picture. I am pleased that the Senator from New Mexico has offered this amendment for really two principal reasons: First, under the budget resolution, President Clinton's fiscal year 1995 to 1999 defense budget would almost certainly face very significant and, in my view, very harmful reductions if we leave this budget resolution as it is. Second, this budget resolution does not seriously address the real culprit in our deficit picture, which is the runaway growth on mandatory or entitlement programs. The budget resolution before the Senate today reduces the cap on total discretionary spending by $43 billion in budget authority and $26 billion in outlays over the next 5 years. This includes a reduction of $5.3 billion in budget authorities and $1.8 billion in outlays this year.”