On the recordOctober 20, 1998
A bad bipartisan bill is still a bad bill. I appreciate the efforts of Republican leaders to get extra money that was vitally needed for national defense. The defense spending is badly needed, as well as emergency relief for farmers and hurricane victims, but those do not justify the rest of this bill. This bill raises Federal spending several billion dollars higher than even President Clinton requested several months ago. We should celebrate balancing the budget, but not with a spending spree. We should be lowering taxes and paying off the national debt, not using the surplus as the latest of many excuses to spend more money. A great many Members of Congress worked long and hard this year to hold the line on spending. Unfortunately, at the end of the process the most liberal Democrats in Congress had the leverage to get the President to back their demands, their insistence, for more spending.
Source
govinfo.gov
