John W. Olver: “Mr. Speaker, here we are, 29 days past the day that started the fiscal year 2000. Only 8 of 13 bills have been passed…”

“Mr. Speaker, here we are, 29 days past the day that started the fiscal year 2000. Only 8 of 13 bills have been passed, so here we are debating another continuing resolution to get us one week deeper into the process, and a week from now we will end up here debating still another continuing resolution. For weeks now the Republicans have accused Democrats of spending the Social Security surplus on this year's budget. Now, give us a break. The Republicans are in the majority here. Democrats cannot pass a budget at all. We cannot spend a single penny of the budget. The Republican majority has passed appropriations bills, one right after the other, with accounting gimmicks that call for routine items becoming emergencies and putting future expenditures past the end of the fiscal year so it appears in next year's accounts. The Office of Management and Budget says you have been spending Social Security money, your own Congressional Budget Office says that you have been spending Social Security money, $17 billion by the latest count, but the Republican leaders, one after another, proclaim they are not spending a single dollar of the Social Security surplus. Well, every propaganda campaign depends on convincing people you are doing exactly the opposite of what you are actually doing, and this is a propaganda campaign. The big lie, repeated again, and again, and again.”