Maurice Hinchey: “I must say that there is no balance in this plan that we are being asked to vote on this afternoon, nor does it balance…”

“I must say that there is no balance in this plan that we are being asked to vote on this afternoon, nor does it balance the budget because it has to be seen in the context of the taxing bill that follows hard on its heels. These two bills in concert increase the budget deficit; they do not decrease it. In fact, shortly into the next century the budget deficit will once again be approaching $100 billion under the Republican plan. Now is this being done by accident? I doubt it. They are doing it intentionally in order to create a circumstance where this Government can no longer afford to pay for the social programs like Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, just as they tried to do in the 1981 tax cut. That will be the effect of it. Just when the baby boom generation reaches its retirement age, that is when the big deficits kick in under this plan. The fact of the matter is that the budget today is almost in balance. We have reduced it over the last year some $290 billion, down now to about $50 billion, and if we left the present policies in place, the budget would be in balance shortly. This bill that we are asked to vote on today is a bill that creates class warfare. It does so by creating those big budget deficits, and it also repeals the social contract for a large number of Americans. It destroys the dignity of work, and it creates a new under class for the first time.”