Glenn English: “I wish to lift this debate above the grotesque ad hominem quality we have been hearing too much on the floor today and…”

“I wish to lift this debate above the grotesque ad hominem quality we have been hearing too much on the floor today and focus instead on the real direction this budget takes us in. I have to say, Mr. Chairman, it is important that people understand that I came here in 1994 with the first conservative and the first fiscally responsible Republican majority in my lifetime. At the time we inherited the House, we discovered that we had deficits as far as the eye could see. In those 8 years, we have seen a radical change in the landscape because we have had a fiscally conservative Congress not spending on impulse, like the previous Congress had. We have trimmed the deficit, we have cut taxes, we have encouraged economic growth. What is particularly important, Mr. Chairman, we have made a commitment to stay within a range of fiscal responsibility and activity that has allowed us to balance two budgets, and now this year we face the acid test: Can we maintain fiscal discipline under very adverse circumstances. As this budget evidences, we can do that. Our answer is yes. This is a budget that will meet America's needs while keeping us on a path to balancing the budget as we come out of the recession. As the Treasury Secretary testified before our Committee on Ways and Means, it is important to understand, the United States has never run a surplus during a recession. The last time someone tried that was Herbert Hoover, and it did not work very well.”