Bill Archer: “this bill is very straightforward and simple, and I would like to congratulate the gentleman from Kentucky, Congressman…”

“this bill is very straightforward and simple, and I would like to congratulate the gentleman from Kentucky, Congressman Fletcher, for all his work on this bill. This bill would direct approximately 90% of the total budget surplus toward debt relief in Fiscal year 2001. It includes Congressman Herger's Social Security and Medicare lockbox legislation, and it adds an additional $42 billion from the on-budget surplus in FY 2001 for additional debt reduction. No question, we would have preferred that some of these funds would have gone to end the marriage tax penalty for 25 million married couples and to repeal the death tax to protect small businesses and family farms, but President Clinton blocked these bipartisan efforts. So now, the next best use for these funds is to pay down the debt. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has said debt relief is the best way to keep our economy strong. Of course, Chairman Greenspan also has said that the worst possible use of these surplus funds is for more spending. We don't want debt relief to be the crumbs on the table after the Washington spending binge, we want debt relief to be the meat and potatoes that grows our economy instead of big government. That's why this bill represents a compromise. President Clinton showed that he did not want to use the taxpayer-generated surplus for tax relief with his vetoes.”