Charles W. Stenholm: “one of my colleagues was quoted in this morning's paper saying, ``How can anyone today vote against cutting taxes?'' It…”

“one of my colleagues was quoted in this morning's paper saying, ``How can anyone today vote against cutting taxes?'' It should be very easy for all of us when we are doing it with borrowed money. Another colleague stood in the well too long ago and said, ``Imagine $500 laying on this table. Shall we have a family spend it, or shall we have the government spend it?'' Obviously the family, with one small problem. It has already been spent, and to spend that 500 again they have got to borrow it again. We all know the quote about those who refuse to study history being doomed to repeat its mistakes. Well, I not only studied the congressional history of the early 1980's--I helped to make it. I did it in good faith. I did it with the encouragement of my constituents. But I am determined not to repeat its mistakes again in 1995. Contrary to my usual optimism, it is hard for me not to agree with the quote: ``What experience and history teach in this--that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.'' Think what we are doing, friends. We have a debt which will break $5 trillion by the end of the year. We have annual deficits which are scheduled to continue rising in the foreseeable future. We have a Medicare program which will be insolvent just around the corner, and a Social Security program which will go from having a surplus to running deficits within the next generation.”