Thomas Daschle: “the Senate will soon voice its opinion on the FY1999 Budget Resolution. The debate on this year's resolution offered the…”

“the Senate will soon voice its opinion on the FY1999 Budget Resolution. The debate on this year's resolution offered the American people an excellent opportunity to observe each party's fiscal priorities. A budget resolution is essentially a fiscal roadmap to the future. Within the confines of scarce resources, a budget resolution forces real choices upon the Democratic and Republican parties. Earlier in the debate, Senate Democrats offered their vision for America's future. Our plan put Social Security first, lived within the spending ceilings established in last year's budget agreement, and contained key domestic investments and targeted tax cuts for working families. Our budget did all of these things plus one more. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, it maintained balance in 1999 and produced a unified budget surplus for as long as CBO is willing to project. Before taking a look forward and describing our budget priorities for the future, I would like to take a brief look back. Just over 5 years ago when President Clinton took office, the budget deficit stood at a whopping $290 billion--the highest level in this nation's history.”