Lloyd Bentsen: “A week ago, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget, Mr. Kasich, said that the Republicans had abandoned the idea of…”

“A week ago, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget, Mr. Kasich, said that the Republicans had abandoned the idea of shutting down the Government and defaulting on the national debt. But yesterday, my colleague from Texas, the majority leader, Mr. Armey, said that default on the debt was again a threat, right here on the front page of the New York Times and on every paper across this country. Mr. Speaker, I guess it is a case of dumb and dumber. It was dumb to shut down the Government; it is dumber to default on the debt of the Government. My Republican friends say we are doing this budget that cuts Medicare and Medicaid to do it for our children and our grandchildren. But the Republican plan is to hurt homeowners and to leave our children and grandchildren with a mountain of bad debt.”