I do not mean to brag, and I do not mean to make a greater separation between Republicans and Democrats. But still, the reason that the overspending is so low is because Republicans were very aggressive in what is called the rescission…

But, see, by definition, if you were to cut out that 500, that means a balanced budget this year. That means no overspending. And I think the pickle that we have got ourselves into by continuing to promise more and more people more and…

And doing part of the talking, but it seems to me when you mention, when you mention having an investment in our children and our grandchildren and in future generations, it seems to me that there is something immoral about the fact that…

I balance it in 5 years. I think we should be even more frugal than this Republican budget. I think we should cut more spending. I think we should be more aggressive in our determination to end up with what you suggest, a true balanced…

I would say the first thing I did when I came to Congress 3 years ago was introduce my own balanced budget.

And I think the people that talk about or advocate a flat tax or a consumption tax or a value added tax or a national sales tax are not saying that, look, this is the golden way to have a successful tax, they are saying, look, the tax…

Do you agree, Mr. Abercrombie, if I might presume to ask you a question, that we should cut spending enough, both discretionary spending and the welfare entitlement spending, enough so that at the end, when we call it a balanced budget, we…

Both budgets depend on those out years to accomplish the final goal. I think that should call to our minds and attention that we should have a gradual sloping line. We should get on that glide path and reduce spending every year for the…

But I think we should make it clear, this is not Republican or Democrat. It is what everybody has been doing, and so I appreciate the opportunity to make people aware of the serious nature of Social Security. If I just might, 2 weeks ago…

Just as a footnote, my understanding is they are talking about a program that would be closer to $5 billion now, but just for everybody I think we should put it in perspective of what the military budget is in relation to other spending…

What is its priorities and what should we do, and I think the gentleman would agree, whether we are spending $350 or $340 billion, that defense is an absolute responsibility of the Federal Government.

I do not think we want to pick on the President, but we want to certainly include him in this discussion. Seventy percent of his discretionary cuts come in the last 2 years, that even if he is reelected he is not going to be here either…

That particular year. So we have now amassed approximately $500 billion that we have borrowed from Social Security and no way to pay it back. But let us not take our eye off of the ball that we are talking about. It seems to me that that…

Since 1986, when we started bringing in the greater surpluses from Social Security and some of the other trust funds, such as the Federal retirement trust fund, a law was passed back in the 1980's that says any surplus money automatically…

I hope we could also carry on a colloquy and make clear to the American people what is happening on this budget. When you speak of the young lady being sawed in half, I always figured that was contortions with one whole person in each half…

Would the gentleman permit me to define what I see as the difference in those two budgets? The President's budget says that if it is not going to balance without the changes in the welfare and entitlement spendings, we want automatic…

look, most of the American people know that our welfare programs are not working. They have been successful in transferring money, and in the process they have taken away the self-respect, in many cases they have taken away the eagerness…

I called Joseph Stiglitz over at the White House the other night. Mr. Stiglitz is chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers for the President. I called him because I was reading his textbook where he said, there is danger in increasing…

In 1993 we increased the marginal tax rate on small business from 31 to 39.6 percent. Small business creates jobs. The first bill that I introduced when I came to Congress in 1993 was neutral cost recovery. It allowed a business to deduct…

the reason that I think in our Committee on the Budget there was not much talk about the positive notes on the President's budget is because the President's budget is full of tricks. It takes taxes and says we are going to have tax cuts…

I suspect most everybody on this side of the aisle would have voted for it. The reason I suggest we should not vote for this blue dog budget is because it would replace an even better budget passed by the Budget Committee. Here is why I…

who do we want to please with this budget? I think we want to please the American people. The Republican Budget Committee for the first time in many, many years held hearings across the United States the last couple of years to ask the…

earlier today I attended a Social Security forum. One of the presenters at that forum said Social Security could be taking in less money from FICA taxes than it is required to pay Social Security checks by the year 2005. By the year 2005…

we have been talking about minimum wage and the desirability for low-income wage earners to earn more money. Of course, it is right. Raising low wages appeals to the sense of decency and compassion of Americans. But it would be a mistake…

last year, I was a Chair of the Budget Committee working group looking at this part of the budget. We recommended the elimination of the Federal Maritime Commission. I'm glad to support this bill to do that today. The Federal Maritime…