Frank Lautenberg: “this amendment represents a modified version of the budget that President Clinton submitted to the Congress last month.…”

“this amendment represents a modified version of the budget that President Clinton submitted to the Congress last month. The amendment incorporates all of the important priorities in the President's budget, maintains strict fiscal discipline, and adopts the President's commitment to save Social Security first. The amendment reserves all surpluses until we solve Social Security's long-term problem. That will help ensure when the baby boomers retire, Social Security will be there for them. Secondly, like the President's budget, this makes education a top national priority, calling for an initiative to reduce class sizes by hiring 1,000 new teachers, promotes higher standards and greater accountability, and provides more after-school opportunities for young people. In short, what this does is remind us all what the commitment is that the President made and what we would like to see in place. I will just say that this presents the President's budget in a modified form. I hope our colleagues will support it.”