Kay Bailey Hutchison: “just to sum up. I think the Hutchison- Grams-Ashcroft half and half bill is sound policy. It is a responsible approach.…”

“just to sum up. I think the Hutchison- Grams-Ashcroft half and half bill is sound policy. It is a responsible approach. If we, indeed, have worked hard and cut the deficits and will go toward a balanced budget even sooner than we thought, I think we create a great dilemma of what to do with the surplus. Because we have worked so hard and become more efficient, I hope we will take this opportunity not to backslide, not to go into more spending programs that will put us in the same situation we were before, but instead take the opportunity to start paying down the $5 trillion debt. So this would be an opportunity to start paying down the debt and put in the pockets of hard-working Americans more of the money they earn. Thirty-eight percent of a person's income is too much to be doling out to Government programs that you may or may not think are a good priority. So we are going to try to lessen that at the same time that we begin to pay down the debt so our children and grandchildren will not have to take from us that kind of burden. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank the managers of the bill for allowing us to take this time to introduce the bill. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the record, as follows: S. 1711 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1.…”