Thomas Daschle: “I appreciate very much his calling attention to the extraordinary and very historic accomplishment that we mark this…”

“I appreciate very much his calling attention to the extraordinary and very historic accomplishment that we mark this week as we begin the debate on the fiscal 1999 budget. The portion in red notes our struggle with the deficit from 1980 all the way up until the present. The deficits during this period total $3.1 trillion. Then in 1993 came the very controversial Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which was enacted only after the Vice President cast the deciding vote. Passage of this act allowed us to make a dramatic reversal in our fiscal policy, generating savings that exceed the entire deficit that we have accumulated from 1980 through 1999. The green, or blue portion as it may appear on the screen, represents a total savings of $4 trillion. It shows that prior to the passage of the 1993 budget bill, CBO was projecting that the deficit would explode from $290 billion in 1992 to $633 billion by the year 2003. Instead, a wonderful thing happened as a result of courageous decisions made by Democratic Senators and Members of Congress.”