Political Quotes

“we are about to take our first legislative action of the 106th Congress. Many of us who ran for election or reelection last November said that one of our greatest sources of pride was that after 30 years of deficits and a Federal debt which had reached close to $6 trillion, that we had finally exercised the fiscal discipline to achieve a balanced Federal budget. What are we about to do with the first vote of this 106th Congress? We are about to pass a bill which will have an unfunded liability of $16.5 billion. That is $16.5 billion not subject to appropriations. That is $16.5 billion of direct authorized spending in this legislation plus revenue reductions that are incident to this legislation. Mr. President, that is not the message that we want to send to the American people--that we are going to add a further indebtedness to the Federal Government, that we are going to start down the slippery slope to more deficits and more additions to our national debt. We do not want to tell our service men and women that we have given them these benefits, which we need to do, but that we were unwilling to pay for them, so that for every dollar we give them, 34 cents is unfunded. That is not fair either to the taxpayers or to the service men and women who we are trying to convince that we are going to substantially improve their service conditions so that they will join up and stay and serve the Nation.”