Herb Kohl: “I rise as a supporter of this budget and as a sponsor of the Brownback-Kohl enforcement amendment. This budget deserves…”

“I rise as a supporter of this budget and as a sponsor of the Brownback-Kohl enforcement amendment. This budget deserves the support of the Senate for several reasons. It is bipartisan and centrist. It finds priorities--like education and child health--that transcend party lines. It includes reasonable tax relief targeted toward families and economic growth. It balances the budget by the year 2002, and it produces surpluses to reduce the debt in the years after that. In this budget, the Congress and the administration have found a way to do what the American people have long asked us to do: Balance the budget in a balanced manner--grow the economy without growing income inequality--strengthen the country by strengthening the working family. The amendment I offer today with my colleague from Kansas makes this very good budget stronger. It calls on the Budget Committee to report enforcement legislation that will lock in the deficit targets in the agreement. While there are some enforcement provisions in the budget deal, we don't think they go far enough. Our amendment calls for enforceable caps on all parts of the budget--entitlements, discretionary spending, and tax expenditures. It requires windfall savings from a good economy or lower than anticipated spending to be locked in to deficit reduction. And it calls for reform in emergency spending procedures so that Congress cannot use true disasters as an excuse for off-budget spending on favorite programs.”