Robert C. Byrd

It is clear that the President is embarked on an economic program that offers no hope for sustained economic growth. It offers no hope because it does not address the fundamental problems of U.S. companies and workers who now must compete…

We cannot build ships out of fiber glass. We cannot build tanks out of fiber glass. And we cannot build armored vehicles out of fiber glass.

The President says that he will propose a "freeze" on Federal spending. The President has adopted the rhetoric of a spending freeze, but in fact he is proposing something quite different.

We are in the grips of the deepest and most severe recession since World War II. Twelve million of our citizens are jobless. These citizens have lost not only their jobs but, in far too many cases, they are also losing their homes, their…

Our Nation desperately needs a change in course. We must act decisively to meet the human emergencies caused by this recession. We must put into place the fiscal and monetary policies which can turn the corner on this recession.

We have performed the part of a responsible minority. We in the minority have followed a policy of responsibility.

In the face of the deepest and severest recession since the days of the Great Depression, this Congress is about to adjourn without having enacted any jobs program into law.

I have been around here for 30 years on this Hill and we have talked about free trade and all that, and I want to see us increase our exports to other countries and we can do that. But we are going to have to do something to protect our…

We must remain an industrialized Nation if we are going to have a foreign policy that works and if we are going to be prepared militarily to keep our country secure.

Our economy is fast becoming a service-oriented economy, and I am glad to see service-oriented industries grow. I want them to grow. But this Nation should not become just a service-oriented Nation.

Why would anyone prefer imposing a new tax on working and retired Americans when we can simply delay a new tax cut for wealthy Americans?

We Democrats believe, as we have said from the start of this administration, that each citizen should bear his or her fair share of the tax burden. We should not ask working and middle-class Americans to bear the entire weight of putting…

Instead of making the middle class pay once more, we Democrats believe it is time to let the wealthiest pay their fair share.

I cannot emphasize too strongly my shock over what happened in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps. But I think it is incumbent upon us all-and I include the community of nations in my appeal-to refrain from interfering in what will be an…

Mr. President, I hope that the Senate will assert its independence of the White House.

I believe we have nothing short of an obligation to take real steps to provide real help to the unemployed people in this country who daily are losing their homes, their life savings, and their self-respect.

Under our Democratic system, to put a question of this magnitude directly to the people is a wise and proper action.

We have never had deficits in this country like we have today. We face an extraordinary situation, and perhaps the extraordinary step of a constitutional amendment is what we need to start on the road back to economic responsibility.

We must never forget that high interest rates are a direct cause of high deficits and that by lowering interest rates we can lower our deficits.

The massive deficits that confront this country are making Wall Street and the investors of this country tremble. They are uncertain. They are unsure.

Slow money growth means high interest rates, and high interest rates guarantee continued economic weakness for our Nation.

Mr. President, what more reason do we need to change this destructive economic course? What more reason do we need to admit that the best-intentioned theories can go wrong in practice? How much longer must we endure this tragic, national…

I do not think the Government should promise tax cuts we have to borrow to afford.

It is time somebody stood up for the American economy. It is time somebody stood up for American workers. It is time somebody stood up for American jobs.

Is it demagoguery to argue that we should see the specific proposals from the President's Commission before agreeing to $40 billion in cuts in social security?