Todd Tiahrt: “In January of 1995, when the three of us were sworn in in the 104th Congress, the projected budget that we were looking…”

“In January of 1995, when the three of us were sworn in in the 104th Congress, the projected budget that we were looking at from the administration said we would have a $200 billion deficit in fiscal year 1996. And it pretty much continued all the way out to 2002 as a deficit of $200 billion per year every year. We then came forward, and all of us supported this plan, which is indicated by the red columns in the chart the gentleman has shown us, and said that we would get to a balanced budget by 2002. I think that was made with a reasonable set of judgments that could be called conservative, and, apparently, we have gone even beyond those expectations. The very first year of the plan we were ahead of schedule by $50 billion, I believe the gentleman told us; by the second year of the plan, we were ahead by over $100 billion of what we had projected; and now, as we approach the next 5 years of the plan, starting with fiscal year 1998, the gentleman is making the prediction that we will be ahead of schedule, of our new updated projections, and even get to a balanced budget by the year 2000.”