Frank Lautenberg: “just a few hours ago, President Clinton delivered his 5-year balanced budget to the Congress. For the first time in a…”

“just a few hours ago, President Clinton delivered his 5-year balanced budget to the Congress. For the first time in a long while, no one was singing a funeral dirge on budget day. The budget is alive and it is well and already has a sense of momentum and history to it. This is a budget that reflects mainstream America. It does not favor one special group at the expense of another. It does not pit generation against generation or rich against poor. The President's budget reflects the hopes and the desires of all of our citizens, whether it is one of our seniors on a fixed income worried about health care or a family concerned about the quality of education of their children or citizens fighting the pollution in the neighborhood in which they live. The budget moves ahead toward the future without leaving anyone behind. As the senior Democrat on the Budget Committee, I say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle this is a credible budget. Do not just knock it. Look at it and see if you want to recommend adjustments or amendments to it. It will reach balance by the year 2002. There are safeguards built into this budget to ensure that promise. President Clinton deserves a lot of credit for presenting a real balanced budget that builds upon the deficit reduction of his first administration. Since the President first took office, that deficit has been reduced consistently and dramatically to last year's low of $107 billion.…”