Government Spending

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for 2 years now Washington Democrats have taken fiscal recklessness to new heights. They have spent trillions of dollars we do not have on things we do not need and cannot afford. The amount of red ink Democrats plan to rack up this year alone would exceed all the debt run up by the Federal Government from its inception through 1984.

This recklessness is the reason we have seen a national uprising against their policies. Americans have demanded we reverse this recklessness and restore balance. Democrats have resisted at every turn.

To conceal the extent of their spending plans, they did not even pass a budget last year. After a nationwide repudiation of their policies in November, they proposed a massive spending bill loaded with new spending that amounted to a slap in the face to the voters.

Following the outrage that provoked, they tried to get a spending freeze past the public. They said: How about we just lock in place the out-of-control spending levels we set last year?

To them, this entire debate is not about how to respond to the American people. It is about seeing what they can get away with.

Well, Republicans have taken a different approach. Responding to our constituents, we have insisted the status quo simply will not cut it anymore. We have insisted on actually shrinking the size of government. And yesterday we delivered, by forcing the first actual cut in government spending in recent memory.

While it was just a small first step, yesterday we showed it is actually possible to change the status quo in Washington. Not bad.

What about the White House? The White House responded to all of this by announcing they want to have a meeting. We are happy to go to the meeting, but putting a meeting on the schedule does not change the fact that neither the White House nor a single Democrat in Congress has proposed a plan that would allow the government to remain open and

that would respond to the voters by reining in spending.

All we get is talk. The President made an audacious assertion yesterday after the 2-week CR was passed. He said he wants his advisers to come up with a plan that ``makes sure we are living within our means.'' Live within our means?

Let me remind you, Mr. President, that the President's budget has us amassing a national debt of more than $20 trillion within the next 5 years--amassing a national debt of over $20 trillion within the next 5 years. We are projected to spend this year $1.6 trillion this year more than we are taking in. That is a $1.6 trillion deficit this year.

Does this mean we can expect the President's Budget Director to present us with a piece of paper that outlines $1.6 trillion in cuts for the current fiscal year? If so, that is great news.

If the President's measure of success, as he said, is a plan that makes sure we actually live within our means, the way most people do, count on me showing up early for this meeting. Unfortunately, I suspect the President is once again just saying something he thinks people want to hear.

The fact is, if Democrats had a plan of their own that would cut one dollar in spending, I think we would have seen it by now. But we have not. Democrats have abdicated all responsibility for their own recklessness over the last 2 years. They have left us to do something about it.

We made a step in the right direction yesterday after months of resistance on their part. Now we look forward to their plan. It is time for Democrats to present a serious plan of their own that addresses this crisis. It is time for Democrats to take the concerns of the American people seriously.

END

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