David Price: “I and a number of colleagues wish to address this body and the American people this evening on our country's fiscal…”

“I and a number of colleagues wish to address this body and the American people this evening on our country's fiscal situation and the decisions facing Congress as we propose a budget for the 2004 fiscal year. We speak with some urgency, and I think colleagues will sense that, because our situation has worsened drastically, and we are convinced that the President's 2004 budget would move our country dramatically in the wrong direction. In the minutes to follow, we will elaborate on our concerns and explain on the alternative course that we should be taking. Mr. Speaker, just 3 years ago, the Federal budget achieved its first surplus that did not rely on either the Social Security trust fund surplus or the Medicare surplus in many, many years. In fact, in the last years of the Clinton administration, we actually paid down $400 billion of the publicly held debt. This surplus enabled us to pay down a portion of the publicly held debt and to look forward to being able to meet the obligations of Social Security and Medicare as the baby boomers retire. This situation, unfortunately, has now drastically reversed.”