George Voinovich: “I agree with the conclusion that Mr. Sperry reaches in his paper, and that is, Congress needs to enact legislation that…”

“I agree with the conclusion that Mr. Sperry reaches in his paper, and that is, Congress needs to enact legislation that will automatically take the $60 billion windfall we just received for fiscal year 2000 and use it to pay down the debt. The bill that Mr. Sperry says that Congress needs to pass is H.R. 4601, the Debt Reduction Reconciliation Act of 2000. Fortunately, on June 20th, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4601, by a vote of 419-5. An overwhelming majority--just think of it. I have reviewed this bill, and I believe H.R. 4601 is our last hope to pass meaningful debt-reduction legislation this year. That is why I asked that this bill be held at the desk and put on the Senate's calendar, instead of being sent to Committee. We must consider this legislation now, and we need to let the American people know that Congress is serious about reducing the national debt and not merely paying lip-service towards that goal. In particular, the bill establishes an off-budget account at the U.S. Treasury that would be called the Public Debt Reduction Payment Account. Any funds that are over the amount specified in CBO's January surplus estimate of $24 billion would be transferred to the Account, where they would be automatically used to reduce the debt. Thus, $60 billion in on-budget surplus funds for FY 2000 would be directed towards debt reduction.”