Steny Hoyer: “in 1981, we ushered in a decade of profligate spending and exploding deficits. In 1990, we passed a budget bill that was…”

“in 1981, we ushered in a decade of profligate spending and exploding deficits. In 1990, we passed a budget bill that was tough and it helped bring down those deficits and bring us a surplus. In 1993, we took another action which was tough and helped bring down those deficits and create the surpluses. In 1997, in a bipartisan way, we passed a bill that was tough and helped bring down deficits and create surpluses. We now wait on a conference report that will again, as we did 20 years ago, usher in a decade of exploding expenditures and exploding deficits. That is irresponsible. We passed a personal bankruptcy bill that said we expected each citizen of America to be personally responsible. Mr. Speaker, it is equally important that we be collectively responsible and reject this bad policy for America.”