Richard Gephardt: “this budget is our common sense vision, our road map for a new century and a new economy. Our budget rejects the…”

“this budget is our common sense vision, our road map for a new century and a new economy. Our budget rejects the misguided and extreme policies and priorities of this Republican slash-and-burn budget and comes up with a moderate and responsible alternative. The Republican leadership has put forward a budget that is so unfair and unwise that it is already dead on arrival. It is unacceptable, not only to many Democrats, but also to many Republicans as well. I have been amused to hear the answers to questions about the budget. There is so little specificity because no one seems able to put the specificity behind the budget that it needs. So we hear, ``Well, that problem will be handled in conference.'' Translated, that means we are going to have the Domenici budget, I suppose, because everything is going to get settled in conference. This Republican budget is expired milk poured into new cartons. It is more of the same fiscal radicalism based on the same irresponsible cuts which the American people specifically rejected in the election of 1996. Do not be fooled. This budget that we are voting on in the next few minutes is the same budget that we had in 1995 from the Contract on America. The Republican path steers us into a dead end, where American families fend for themselves and are at the mercy of the global marketplace.”