Charles W. Stenholm: “It is amazing listening to my colleague from Texas. One would think that we Democrats are still in control and that his…”

“It is amazing listening to my colleague from Texas. One would think that we Democrats are still in control and that his party has not been in control of this House for the last 8 years. It is amazing listening to these speeches. It is amazing to see the budget that came out of the committee which he serves on, that next will propose to borrow $377.6 billion, including all of the Social Security trust funds, all of the Civil Service trust funds, all of the Federal military retiree trust funds. In this same budget he supported today, the debt limit will be increased to $8.88 trillion, and yet the finger-pointing stills goes on. He had a chance today to vote for a budget enforcement bill that the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson) offered that would do something about the deficit. He voted 'no,' but he comes to the floor and makes a wonderful speech that sounds good, but does nothing to deal with our Nation's fiscal problems. The Blue Dog philosophy and the budget we will offer next week begins with a simple wisdom: when you find yourselves in a hole, the first rule is to quit digging.”