Don Nickles: “I wish to congratulate and compliment my friend and colleague from Mississippi for this amendment. I just watched and…”

“I wish to congratulate and compliment my friend and colleague from Mississippi for this amendment. I just watched and listened to some of the debate. A lot of people have attacked this amendment and criticized this amendment. Of course, they have that right to do so. But I think it is important to see what this amendment does. This amendment expands on the amendment, the so-called Exon-Grassley amendment, which cut discretionary spending $26 billion. Some people said we cannot afford to do that. This amendment adds $20 billion in mandatory spending cuts in the entitlement section. A lot of that will be done in 1999. I think we can afford to do both. I am amazed. I look at the combination, that is $46 billion in outlay reductions over the next 5 years. Not $46 billion, I might mention to my colleague from Mississippi, not $46 billion next year. Next year we are going to spend over $1.5 trillion. That is $1,500 billion. If you are going to cut $46 billion in 1995 out of $1,500 billion, that might be something. That would be about 3 percent. But we are not doing that in 1995. We are not doing it in 1996. As a matter of fact you have to add all 5 years, and if you add up all 5 years, we are going to spend over $8 trillion--$8 trillion. There are 12 zeros behind a trillion. If we agree to the amendment of the Senator from Mississippi, we are talking about $46 billion. It is not even a percent, not even a half percent.”