Mark Kirk: “I just want to thank the service of my chairman, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle), and also my ranking minority…”

“I just want to thank the service of my chairman, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle), and also my ranking minority member, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt), the soul of discretion in this debate. But I do want to correct the record. There were two pages missing in this budget. They are now here. But what else is missing from this budget? Last year President Clinton proposed a $237 million increase in taxes between 2000 and 2010. That is missing from this budget. This year, leaders on the other side proposed a one-third plan, calling for $740 billion in new spending, with little details. That is missing from this budget. Last year President Clinton proposed the creation of 84 new Federal programs and the expansion of 162 others, and that, Mr. Chairman, is missing from this budget. Their one-third plan would pay millions of dollars in prepayment penalties from working taxpayers to the most wealthy bondholders. That is missing from this budget. So what is in this budget? What is in this budget is that we are on track for doubling resources to the National Institutes of Health; what is in this budget is the President's immediate Helping Hand prescription drug plan with the flexibility to expand that plan; what is in this budget is an 11 percent increase for education; and what is in this budget are the 1999 reforms that we did for the budget that protect Social Security. So, for me, I rise in strong support of this budget.”