William Tauzin: “Mr. Chairman, I hate to think that we have just confused a metaphor with the circus analogy. But the point of the matter…”

“Mr. Chairman, I hate to think that we have just confused a metaphor with the circus analogy. But the point of the matter is that the bill as we have it before us today is very much like the bills that came before I think 33 of the 43 legislatures that have a line-item veto authority. It says in effect that the President is going to have this authority to reduce deficit spending. That is what this is all about. Hopefully we will use it to get rid of wasteful, incorrect spending, but the purpose is to reduce the deficit. And my point in this amendment, and I hope the gentlemen on the other side will continue to consider it as we go through this process, is that if the Congress of the United States cannot deliver a balanced budget next year, the question ought to be what can be deliver, what ought we deliver? And the answer is, we ought to stay on that glidepath. If we do not stay on that glidepath, as steep as it looks to my friend, as dangerous as it seems, as risky as it may appear, we will never reach the balanced budget by the year 2002. We simply have to get on that glidepath, and we have to stay on it.”