Christopher Shays

Mr. SHAYS

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. I do not serve on the Committee on International Relations, and I have deferred in the past to debates on these issues. However, sincere as I believe my colleague from Texas is, I think he is absolutely dead wrong. I would just say that I believe in the sincerity of the amendment; I just think it is dead wrong. As a former Peace Corps volunteer, I do not want to live in these United States the way I lived and saw the absolute abject poverty that exists around the world. There is no poverty close to the kind of poverty we see in Africa and other areas of the world. We need the United Nations. We need not be the world's policeman, we need not be the world's peacemaker; we need to join with others in sharing that responsibility. I was here during the awful tragedy in Somalia, and that was not the fault of the United Nations; that was the fault of our own policy and how we carried it out. I agree with those who say the United Nations needs to be more efficient, the United Nations needs to be more effective. We need to be active partners in the United Nations. Frankly, we need to pay our debts to the United Nations and be the world leaders that we should be and set the example we should. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. SHAYS

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 10 seconds, to point out that while some are contemplating a legislative change in the CPI, there is no change in the CPI in this budget.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 10 seconds. This budget does not make any legislative change in the CPI. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is totally independent. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Hoekstra].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute, to point out that the insurance fund is losing approximately $12 billion this year, a $35 million daily loss. Next year if we do not save the trust fund, it will lose $55 million each day; the year after that, $78 million and $103 million each day the year after that. In 2001, when the fund will go totally bankrupt, the trust fund will lose $133.9 billion each day. Our plan saves the trust fund to the year 2007. Instead of having a debt of $612 billion, there will still be $75 billion in the fund. It is true that one service, home health care, is taken out of the part A trust fund and put into part B. But it is not smoke and mirrors because the taxpayers will be paying 75 percent of the cost and the premium holders 25 percent of the cost. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes and 20 seconds to the gentleman from New Hampshire [Mr. Sununu].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Saxton], the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, and ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to allocate that time. Mr. Chairman, I would just point out that the Joint Economic Committee looks at spending, taxing, and regulatory policy as well as the policy of the Federal Reserve and determines its effect on the economy.

Mr. SHAYS. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Committee on the Budget, we oppose this amendment in the nature of a substitute.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, it is now 2 o'clock. We are going to reserve the balance of our time and the gentleman is free to continue.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, we will be closing the debate as is our right. We have one speaker.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, we are under no orders tonight or yesterday or tomorrow. It is just that I remember the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Kasich] in this Chamber in 1989 offering an amendment to finally get our country's financial house in order. There were only 30 people who supported him, and our deficits just got bigger and bigger and our national debt just kept growing and growing. The perfect amendment, it appears on that side of the aisle, is the Kennedy substitute, and I respect that. Many on our side felt the perfect amendment was offered by the conservative coalition, the CATS. So we had our perfect amendment and you have your perfect amendment and what we are trying to do is to find something that we both can agree on. I am hoping that the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Spratt] and others are right, that we can come to an agreement on a package that does some of what we want, some of what the Democrats want, and will be ultimately signed by the President. We wanted to see controlling the growth of entitlements, allowing entitlements to grow at 6 and 7 percent a year instead of at 10 percent a year, we wanted to deal with the trust fund that is literally going bankrupt, and we also on this side of the aisle wanted tax cuts. That is true. The other side does not. We accept that. On the other side of the aisle they wanted more spending on discretionary spending. We did not. But ultimately the President won that battle. So we have an agreement, more discretionary spending that that side of the aisle wants, controlling the growth of entitlements and tax cuts which our side wants. It is an agreement. It is basically the best we seem to be able to do with a Democrat President and Republican Congress. That is why we oppose this amendment. We support something that is very different than what the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy] brought forward. I know the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy] wants something very different from what we brought forward. But in the end we have an agreement, and I hope and pray that not only we defeat this amendment but that we defeat the transportation amendment that will follow this debate here, vote out this agreement, and then work in the next 2 years to make this agreement work. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I am happy to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Bunning]. (Mr. BUNNING asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. DeLay], the majority whip and a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds, just to point out to the gentleman the reason why Republicans did not support the 1993 agreement. It contained tax increases and very little spending cuts. The reason why we have seen continued growth in the reduction of the deficit in the last 2 years has been because we have made only spending cuts. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Hampshire [Mr. Bass].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 20 seconds to the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Radanovich].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Pitts]. (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. Nussle].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller).

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hobson]. (Mr. HOBSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Skelton].

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, it is my distinct privilege to yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Gingrich], the Speaker of the House, to close debate.

Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Chairman, it is my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California [Mr. Capps]. (Mr. CAPPS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)