Orrin Hatch: “I think this has been a reasonable debate. It has been civil. The debate has been so for both sides of this issue, and…”

“I think this has been a reasonable debate. It has been civil. The debate has been so for both sides of this issue, and both sides have been well-represented. Naturally I feel our side is correct. I would not be here if I did not, working day in and day out. But the American people voted for change. They thought they were going to get it when they voted for President Clinton. And to a degree they have gotten change, but not the change they thought they were going to get. They thought he would lead the fight for a balanced budget. In a sense, with increasing taxes and doing some budgetary cuts in the last year, I guess you could give him some credit for that, except that under that budget that he passed with 100 percent Democrats and no Republicans, the Vice President having to break the tie, that budget has deficits shooting up in 1996 to as high as $400 billion-plus shortly after the turn of the century. This year the President has brought his budget forward, and I really believe he has just thrown in the sponge because this year's budget has $200 billion deficits ad infinitum just on and on well into the next century, certainly for the next 12 years. And those are based on his rosiest assumptions. He just plain did not do anything about persistent yearly deficits. That is not change. That is business as usual. And $200 billion deficits are very, very high. The American people voted for change, and the balanced budget is part of that change.”