Jack Kingston

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. I do not control the time. I would be happy to yield.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, there are really two reasons why we need to balance the budget. The first one is that the interest is the third largest expenditure in the national budget each year. In 2 years we will be paying the bondholders on our national debt more money than we pay for our entire Defense Department. We pay $20 billion each month to the bondholders on our national debt, $20 billion that could be spent on education, on health care, Medicare, Medicaid, whatever you want; $20 billion is absolutely gone except for going into the pockets of bondholders; and that debt, ladies and gentlemen, is going to be passed back to the children of America. The second reason is, we want to balance the budget. If we do, we can reduce interest rates. Lower interest rates mean businesses can expand. More jobs will be created, more opportunities; home mortgages will go down, automobile payments each month will go down. It is prosperity that we have to gain. I, Mr. Speaker, stand for a balanced budget and I wish that every Member of the House would do the same.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. If the gentleman would yield, I would like to respond to the gentleman from New Jersey and since the gentleman is about to control the time, may I go ahead?

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, in the face of this impasse and in the spirit of the season, I believe we should forget this Democrat versus Republican stuff, legislators versus Executive Branch, liberals versus conservatives, and unite under the common bond of being Americans. We are reminded of a similar impasse in our history at the constitutional convention when the sage elder statesman, Ben Franklin, stood with these words: ``In the beginning of our war with Britain, we prayed daily for guidance. Our prayers were heard and answered. Have we now forgotten this powerful ally? The longer I live, this I know to be true, God governs the affairs of men, for if a sparrow cannot fall without His notice, is it probable that a nation can rise without His aid? The psalmist tells us in chapter 118, verse 8, ``Put your trust in God, not confidence in men.'' We have these same words above the Speaker's chair and right over the American flag. I believe that we, as a Congress, should come together as Democrats and Republicans and leaders to do what is best for the American country, put God and country first, not partisan politics.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Reclaiming my time, I am sorry, the gentleman said reducing.

Mr. KINGSTON. I understood the gentleman to say cut.

Mr. KINGSTON. That is OK. Let me talk about some of the radical extreme problems we are seeming to have. We want to get rid of SSI for people who are in jail. We want to quit giving American jobs and social benefits to illegal aliens. We want to quit the scare tactics and the demagoguery on American seniors. I think more than anything else we are driven by the fact that this Congress will be leaving and I would say this administration will be leaving the children of America a $5 trillion debt. If a baby is born today, he or she owes over the next 75 years $187,000 as his or her share of interest on the national debt, above and beyond State, local, and Federal taxes. That is not what we want to do to America's children. I think, Mr. Speaker, my friends on the Democrat and Republican side, that maybe it is time to take a step back. Maybe it is time to say that this budget dilemma is perhaps beyond Democrats and Republicans in Washington. Maybe it is something that the American people need to drive a little bit more, and we need to all cool off a little bit and think about putting America first and trying to do what is best, because Dwight Eisenhower said, and I will paraphrase, that once the American people have made their mind up about something, there is little that can be done to stop it. I would say to my friends that the American people have made up their mind about balancing the budget. Let us work together as Democrats and Republicans, as elected leaders of this country, to do what the American people want, and that is to balance the budget.

Mr. KINGSTON. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time. I wanted to offer this to the previous speaker, my friend from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank] who said, well, Medicare is being cut. Here is your check. If Medicare is being cut, then you have already established what it takes to receive your $1 million, and all you have to do is go prove it.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, as I listened to the debate today and this week, and I think many of the Members in the House and across the country have listened to it, there is a lot of blame going on. Some people are blaming Mr. Dole; others are blaming Speaker Gingrich. Some are blaming the freshman class. Others are blaming the President. Others are blaming--and I understand the President actually got mad at the moderates tonight--and then there is a Democrat coalition that is getting some of the blame. And so there seems to be plenty of blame and plenty of theories as to who is the problem here. But whatever the excuse is, whatever group you blame it on, the fact is we still have not resolved this budget impasse. There is an old World War II saying of the veterans that said that the difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little bit longer. And it would appear that it is impossible right now in 1995 America for us to settle this budget quickly or easily. But I am confident, Mr. Speaker, that we will be able to resolve it. I say that because of a great confidence and belief in the American people, in the American system. Sure, we are having a very difficult debate. It is extremely hard. Democrats are coming, every day they are saying the Republicans hate children, the Republicans hate the elderly, it is the book deal, it is one thing or the other. I know on their side that the Republicans are accusing Democrats of wanting to spend all the money in the world and yet, when you look at it, Democrats have something to say in this argument. When you look at it, the Republicans have something to say. I think what the American people really want is a balanced budget and we are the folks who have been elected to do the job. I believe that we can get together and resolve this. Dwight D. Eisenhower said, I am paraphrasing, that once the American people have made up their mind to do something, there is little that can be done to stop it from happening. I think the American people have made up their mind about the balanced budget and I believe in that context this debate is, I say, fortunately beyond Washington. We will get a balanced budget. What is it that we are fighting about? The Republican plan, for all the cries about the deep cuts, the Republican plan does not even freeze spending. It increases it $3 trillion over the next 7 years. The President wants to increase it $4 trillion over the next 7 years. As I talk one to one to my Democrat friends and Republican friends, we are all confident that we could resolve it. People from urban areas, people from rural areas, people from the West Coast, East Coast, it does not matter, we believe on an individual basis we can resolve it. I am seeing a little bit more movement this last week in that direction, informal talks, nothing big, nothing that has picked up in the media, nothing that some of the leadership has even recognized. Yet there is a lot more talking going on than the media would have the American people believe. So I say with a great optimism, yes, it is too bad we are going to be going home and folks are still out of work and so forth. I think it is important for us to all realize, these are real people, real paychecks, real jobs. They want to be working. They want to know that the security of that paycheck coming in twice a month is going to be there. At the same time, though, I am confident that we are going to get this thing resolved because, and to quote another great leader, Ronald Reagan, we are Americans. We will do the right thing. We will get this thing done, Democrats and Republicans alike. People are using the children as their shield a lot around here. We are doing this for the kids. What if kids could vote? What if the American children, what if that average 10-year old out there could suddenly vote and, realizing the issues as the rest of us do, and that 10-year old, like my son John, would look up and say, wait a minute, Dad, you mean to tell me that all that spending that you are doing today, all that money that you act like it is yours when it is not, you mean to tell me that you are borrowing money that I am going to have to be paying back and my friends are going to be paying back. Dad, I think you all better so some serious cutting or do some serious spending reductions or do whatever it takes so that my generation is not strapped hopelessly with this $5 trillion debt that you are bumping against right now. I would say, we bring kids in the argument, what would happen, Mr. Speaker, if children were allowed to vote? I think this whole formula would change and I can promise you, we could balance that budget in a hurry because it is not fair what we are leaving our children in the way of debt.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, my son John plays on a U-10 soccer team, the Budget Bombers. Now, judging from their names, you would think we were a bunch of Democrats, but actually they are a bunch of future taxpayers who will inherit Democrat deficits. Their coach, Kurt Rodenberg, gave me this hat. I think it is appropriate for the season. It says ``Budget'' on it. I will call it the Kasich cap. But there is another cap out here. This is the Clinton cap. Something for everybody. Fun, games, promises, and make-believe; SSI for prisoners; fear and demagoguery for senior citizens; rules, regulations, and red tap for bureaucrats; American jobs and benefits for illegal aliens. And, for the children, Clinton and Demo-Clauses would never forget the children, for the children have a $5 trillion debt. Higher interest rates, higher mortgages, less jobs. What a future for the young U-10 soccer team. This is their compassion. This is their Christmas spirit. This is their love. Merry Christmas, Mr. President. But really and truly, fast forward them to ground-hog day.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. KINGSTON. On that subject, I want to mention that I know Mr. Hayworth knows this story, because I have told it before, about the guy that goes to the farmer and wants to borrow his friend's ax and he goes next door and he says, ``I want to borrow your ax today; I have to chop some wood.'' The guy says to the farmer, ``I do not want to lend you my ax,'' and the farmer says, ``why not?'' He says, ``I am making soup today.'' He says, ``making soup? What does that have to do with me borrowing your ax?'' He says, ``nothing, but if I do not want to do something, any excuse is a good one.'' What we are seeing on issue after issue is: yes, I want to balance the budget, but not here, not now, not this one, not that program. I yield back to the gentleman from Arizona.

Mr. KINGSTON. The gentleman talked earlier about the 73 new freshmen, and I assume not 1 of you ran on a platform of increasing spending 3 trillion new dollars. The point being is I really and truly believe the American people want a balanced budget. I believe the time has come for it, and I also believe, to paraphrase Dwight W. Eisenhower, that once the American people make up their mind to do something, there is not much you can do to stop it. So I believe, thank the Lord, that this is beyond the President, this is beyond Congress, this is beyond the Senate. This is something the American people want, and therefore, I think we are going to get a balanced budget.

Mr. KINGSTON. We, over a 7-year period of time, we being the Republican Party, are suggesting increasing spending 3 trillion new dollars over the next 7 years. The President wants to increase spending $4 trillion over the next 7 years.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, what is curious about this whole process is that we are not cutting spending, unfortunately. We are not freezing spending, unfortunately. We, over a 7-year period of time, are increasing spending 3 trillion new dollars, and the President wants to increase it 4 trillion new dollars.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth], the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Collins] and the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] for being with me tonight. Balanced budget, what does it mean to you? Lower interest rates. Small businesses can expand, create more jobs. It means lower home mortgages, lower car payments, lower student loan rates. It means a better quality of life, and more importantly than anything, it means an honest American Government, one that can look forward to even greater heights.

Mr. KINGSTON. Gentlemen, we are about out of time. Let us all wrap up quickly.

Mr. KINGSTON. Well, the thing that I think is also important to remember is that the average middle-income family in the 1950's paid 2- percent Federal income tax. Today that same average middle-income family pays 24-percent Federal income tax, and that does not even take into account all of your State and local taxes that have gone up year after year, and as a result, we have less time as a family to sit down and import information to the next generation: help educate kids, help teach them manners, and help teach them right from wrong. You have to have two-income families just to pay the Government. It has become a lower quality of life. I yield to the gentleman from Arizona.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, what I wanted to do was get back on the tax issue a minute. We have the distinguished gentleman from Georgia on the Committee on Ways and Means here, and the gentleman from California, Mr. Duncan Hunter, who used to be in charge of the policy committee and knows all these things. It is interesting that the chart I am about to show you was actually developed by the Heritage Foundation which, while it is conservative, is certainly not Republican and is an independent think tank as opposed to some of the charts we are seeing by the Democrats. This $500 per child tax credit, which we have heard time and time again, ``a tax credit for the rich,'' and I do not know when the Democrat party crossed the line, but it is obvious if you are rich in the Democrat party, it is worse than being a criminal, and it is certainly a lot worse than being an illegal alien, given the benefits they want to give to illegal aliens in California. In San Diego, goodness gracious, you cross the border and you are a lot more welcome than somebody is who is rich. Good gosh, a rich person might be an employer. Here are 89 percent of the people in America who will benefit from the $500 per child tax credit, and almost 90 percent have a family income of $75,000 or less. These are the rich people. So I guess what the extreme left is telling us is that if you make $75,000 or less, as the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] said, if you got a job, they do not like you. You are one of those big, bad, evil rich. I am glad to yield to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Collins].

Mr. KINGSTON. Let me claim the time now, Mr. Speaker, because I want to make sure I understand what the gentleman is saying. Does the gentleman mean to tell me that the President of the United States had a balanced budget on the floor and not one Democrat voted for it? Is that what you are saying?

Mr. KINGSTON. I yield to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth], but for a minute I want to point out the infamous $1 million check that is waiting here for any Democrat or any member of America who can show where the Republican plan is cutting Medicare. It is interesting that this check is dated December 6, and it has been collecting interest because nobody can prove there is a cut and nobody can collect this check.

Mr. KINGSTON. If I could reclaim my time, I think I could enhance the gentleman's words. This is what is happening with Medicare under the Republican plan. It goes from $4,816 in the year 1995 to $7,101 in the year 2002. Only in Washington, DC would that be called a cut. I would suggest it is really a mathematics problem.

Mr. KINGSTON. I thank the gentleman for his honesty on that. We will have to debate that further and continue. Let me yield to the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter], my friend.