Richard Gephardt: “I rise reluctantly this afternoon to state that I will not vote for this budget, but before giving Members the reasons…”

“I rise reluctantly this afternoon to state that I will not vote for this budget, but before giving Members the reasons for that, I want to commend the Members on both sides of the aisle. I especially want to commend the gentleman from South Carolina, [Mr. John Spratt], and I want to commend the President for working so hard to bring about this agreement, which is an important achievement for our country. Having done this in 1990 and again in 1993, I know how hard it is. I know how many compromises have to be made and how many decisions have to be made to make something like this come together. But at the end of it, it is a decision on this budget that each of us must make for what is best for our constituents, the 500,000 people that each of us represents and what in our hearts and minds is best for them and best for the country. I would like to start with a little history of why we are where we are. This all started, in my view, back in 1981.”