Chuck Schumer: “Before the Senator moves on to the investment part, I think the points the Senator from Illinois is making are…”

“Before the Senator moves on to the investment part, I think the points the Senator from Illinois is making are astounding. To me, particularly our friends in the business community, and all of the American people, ought to look at what the Senator from Illinois has said--deficits, biggest paydown ever--the usual criteria that conservatives use for how big and encroaching Government is, smaller than it has been in three decades, smaller under Bill Clinton than under Ronald Reagan. To reiterate, because the facts are astounding, Government spending as a share of the economy went from 21.6 percent in 1980 to 22.2 percent in 1992. Under President Clinton, it has gone from 22.2 percent to 18.7 percent, which is lower than it has been under any year in 30 years and under Ronald Reagan. Taxes and the number of jobs in the Federal Government are lower than anytime since 1966. If you went to the business leaders and asked them what the Senator from Illinois is talking about, they would say no. The message sent to the business community in the budget of this last year of the Clinton Presidency is that the fiscally responsible party is the Democrats; we believe in investment. I know what the Senator is talking about. But we also believe in tightening the belt of Government. No one has done a better job of that than the President between 1993 and the present. I thank the Senator for yielding. I just wanted to underscore that point.”