Lloyd Bentsen: “I rise in support of H.R. 5173 and want to commend the Republican Leadership for abandoning their fiscally irresponsible…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 5173 and want to commend the Republican Leadership for abandoning their fiscally irresponsible budget and trying to salvage, albeit with less than a month left until the 106th Congress ends, something from the ruins of their failed budget that hinged on a foolhardly $2 trillion tax cut. H.R. 5173 would reserve 90%, or $239 billion of the total projected federal budget surplus for Fiscal Year 2001, for debt reduction. As a senior member of the House Budget Committee, I have consistently argued that the best course of action to insure the continued fiscal health of this nation, is to pay down publicly-held debt, while simultaneously safeguarding Social Security and Medicare. Under H.R. 5173, the non- Social Security, non-Medicare surplus, estimated at $42 billion, would be reserved for debt reduction and would be kept in a newly-established special account, maintained by the U.S. Department of Treasury, for use to purchase publicly-held debt at or before maturity. H.R. 5173 also amends the Republican flawed budget, H. Con. Res. 290, by creating "points of order" in the House and Senate, against any legislation that would use the projected $165 billion Social Security Trust Fund and $32 billion Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund surpluses for anything other than paying down the debt.”