Political Quotes

“last January, I outlined a brief two- step plan to balance the budget by the year 2002. I proposed that we correct for overindexation of Government programs resulting from using the Consumer Price Index [CPI], and that we postpone tax cuts. Starting with the President's budget proposals, and using CBO scoring, these two steps would have produced a balanced budget by 2002. I now present my second, and if we act quickly my last, annual plan to balance the budget. As under the first plan, balancing the budget is relatively easy if we correct for overindexation and forgo tax cuts. The Congressional Budget Office is expected to estimate the baseline deficit in 2002 at about $200 billion. If Congress acts now to balance the budget by 2002, interest rates will fall, economic growth will increase, and CBO will declare a fiscal dividend in 2002 of about $50 billion. So Congress need only find $150 billion in 2002.…”