1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: On this episode of News World, I want to chat 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: with you about balancing the federal budget and how rapidly 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: the world can change. And I say that because if 4 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: you just stuck your head up in Washington today and said, oh, 5 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: let's balance the federal budget, people would think you were crazy, 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,439 Speaker 1: and they would say, oh, my god, don't you realize 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: that the debt's too big, that the obligations are too much, 8 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: that it's not possible. Now. I have a particular interest 9 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,480 Speaker 1: in this because when I was Speaker of the House, 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: we balance the budget for four straight years, the only 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: four consecutive years in your lifetime, and we did it knowingly, deliberately, 12 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: and with a really strategic plan. So I know it 13 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: can be done. But I want to start by chatting 14 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: about budgets and why budgets matter, and then I'll carry 15 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: you through some interesting stories about what we did and 16 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: how we did it, and then I'm going to apply 17 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:23,479 Speaker 1: it to the president. I got intrigued with budgets when 18 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: I was a history teacher at West Georgia College, and 19 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: in particular studying British political history in the eighteenth and 20 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:37,839 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, because I realized that the British system with Parliament. 21 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: The budget was a hugely important document, and the budget 22 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: really did lead directly to spending, and so what you 23 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: decided to put in the budget changed almost everything. Now, 24 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: the British had a challenge. They had developed a very 25 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: strong financial system with the founding of the Bank of 26 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: England in the late seventeenth century, and when they fought 27 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: the Napoleonic Wars, one of the great strengths they had 28 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: was that they could simply manufacture money, and so they 29 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: could subsidize the Austrians, the Dutch, the Prussians, the Russians, 30 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: the Spanish, the Portuguese. Every time you turned around, some 31 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: British naval officer was showing up with cash. And the 32 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: result was Napoleon literally couldn't break out. And you could 33 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:30,360 Speaker 1: argue that it was the wall of money as much 34 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: as the wall of oak ships in the Royal Navy 35 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: that automnly defeated Napoleon. But by the end of defeating Napoleon, 36 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: remember the wars of the French Revolution go from seventeen 37 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: ninety two to eighteen fifteen, so it is a long 38 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: period about twenty three years, and which was only one 39 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: year of peace. And in that process the British had 40 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: spent an immense amount of money, built up a huge debt, 41 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: and began after the war to begin to pay it down. 42 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,239 Speaker 1: They created what they called a sinking fund, and a 43 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: sinking fundment that they would run a deliberate surplus and 44 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: then they would take the surplus and they would pay 45 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:13,359 Speaker 1: off debt. And gradually, year after year after year they 46 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: were paying down the national debt. They were rebuilding their 47 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: financial strength, giving themselves the ability if they had to 48 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: to go out and once again find all the money 49 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:29,359 Speaker 1: they needed. Now that created a political environment in which 50 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: people had enormous interests in very frugal government. And by 51 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: frugal I mean in the case of Gladstone, for example, 52 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: who was Chancellor of the Exchequer and then Prime Minister 53 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: in many ways the most important single British politician from 54 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: the middle to the end of the nineteenth century. Gladston 55 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: would actually send back the express boxes to be reused 56 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: because he was so frugal. And a sense of frugality 57 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: also came to the United States, where there was a 58 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: constant concern about debt, and in fact, one of the 59 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: great notes in the memoir of General Grant's personal assistant 60 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: He writes that after Appomattox Lee surrendered in the morning. 61 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 1: That afternoon, Grant is on the train riding back to Washington, 62 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: and as they're going through the Virginia countryside, he is 63 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: signing the discharge papers for the Union Army on the 64 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: grounds that the taxpayer should not be required to pay 65 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,720 Speaker 1: for one extra day if they didn't need the soldiers. Now, 66 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: I mean, think about that turnaround. In the morning, he 67 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: is winning the Civil War. In the afternoon, he's demobilizing 68 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: the army to save the taxpayer's money. What a quaint idea. 69 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: And for most of American history that idea was real. 70 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: Began to break down some during the Great Depression because 71 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: the Liberals who were around Franklin Downer Roosevelt wanted to 72 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,159 Speaker 1: spend money more than they wanted to balance the budget. 73 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: And of course it broke down totally in World War Two. 74 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,359 Speaker 1: And the fact is, we've had three great bursts of 75 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 1: borrowing money once we became a country. The first was 76 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: the Civil War, the second was World War One, and 77 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: the third was World War Two. And in each of 78 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 1: those cases, because we were fighting a war, people understood 79 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: he had to run up a big debt. And in 80 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: each of those cases. And by the way, it was 81 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: also true before we were a country. The eight year 82 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: a war with Great Britain for our independence led to 83 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 1: a very large debt. And one of the things that 84 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: made Alexander Hamilton a genius was he was able to 85 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 1: go to the Dutch, who were our primary lenders, and 86 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 1: work out a deal and that fund the debt in 87 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: order to give the United States credit. So here was 88 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: this tiny new country, very weak in many ways, without 89 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: a great industrial base and without a great commercial base. 90 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 1: But he managed to run the budget in such a 91 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: way that we gradually fund the debt, made the dollar stable, 92 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: and kept our ability to borrow money around the world 93 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: because we paid off our debts. You could argue that 94 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: there were four great cases, the Revolutionary War before we 95 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: were a country, and then the three that I mentioned 96 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: after we became a country. In each case, once the 97 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: war was over, the political system said you better start 98 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 1: paying down the debt, and there was a period of 99 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,719 Speaker 1: frugality after each of those cases. In the Civil War period, 100 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: for example, there was a real effort and when General 101 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: Grant became President, Grant he continued that process of trying 102 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,600 Speaker 1: to run enough of a surplus that they could actually 103 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: pay down the debt. After World War Two, Harry Truman 104 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 1: worked very hard now with total success, but very hard 105 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: to keep spending under control and was actually working towards 106 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: a dramatic reduction in the Defense department. When the North 107 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 1: Koreans in June twenty fifth, nineteen fifty crossed the border 108 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: and attacked South Korea, which point it would we got 109 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: into a war. We spent a lot of money. That 110 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: led to the election of General Eisenhower as the first 111 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: Republican president in twenty years. Eisenhower was a Cansen, and 112 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: as a Canson, he believed in a frugal life. He 113 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: believed in trying to balance the budget, and he worked 114 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: very hard at shrinking the size of the federal government, 115 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: shrinking the amount of money we are spending. And he 116 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: had a deep sense that having a stable currency and 117 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 1: having a stable fiscal situation was a key part of 118 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: our national strength. In fact, he warns in his farewell 119 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: address that even though we were in a Cold War 120 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: with the Soviet Union, we had to be very careful 121 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: not to overspend, not to build too big a national 122 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: security system, and not to bankrupt ourselves. While we were 123 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: in the process of containing and ultimately bankrupting the Soviets. 124 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: So that was the background to the world that had emerged. 125 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: But starting after World War Two, something profound happened in 126 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: our culture. It's called credit cards, and people began to 127 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: learn that you could charge now and go do something 128 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: and pay later, and of course all sorts of things 129 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: grew up. Vacations, Take your vacation this week, you can 130 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: pay it off over the next year, or buy some 131 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: clothing now by your Christmas gifts. Now. In the old days, 132 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: people actually saved money all year to then buy something 133 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: with cash. In the new world, people bought everything in 134 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: December and then spent all year paying it off, with 135 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: of course interest going to the banks. So that model 136 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: infected the political system, and we were different than the British. 137 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: The British had a pretty centralized governmental structure in which 138 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: the Chancellor of the Exchequer what we would call the 139 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: sector of the treasury, but also a person who controlled money, 140 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: so he or she had a real interest in the 141 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: total budget and they could offer it to the Parliament 142 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: and then fight over it. And winning the budget vote 143 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 1: became a key part of being an effective government. That 144 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: all made sense. The American system is amazingly more complex. 145 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: So not only do you have the president as much 146 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: as the British have the Prime Minister, but in addition 147 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: you have two very vigorous branches. And the House of 148 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 1: Lords was never deeply involved in budgeting per se, but 149 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: the House of Commons was, and in fact that was 150 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,600 Speaker 1: the base of the House of Commons power compared to 151 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: the King. They didn't have to give the king money 152 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: if they didn't agree with the king. That went all 153 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: the way back to the Magna Carta in twelve fifteen. 154 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: So the situation that evolved was that the House of 155 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: Commons preserved the power of the purse and took it 156 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: very seriously. And budgets began to be for the British 157 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 1: a real central point every year of what was the 158 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: government going to spend money on? I was it going 159 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:53,199 Speaker 1: to build warships? Was it going to build housing? I 160 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: wasn't going to spend on education? And shaping the budget 161 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: in effect was shaping the government, and shaping the government 162 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: in many ways was shaping the country. The American models 163 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: remarkably different. The president goes up, gives a speech called 164 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: the State of the Union, then sends up a proposed budget. 165 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: The proposed budget goes to the budget committees, which actually 166 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,200 Speaker 1: are very weak and have sort of a vague general 167 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,439 Speaker 1: propaganda value. The budget committees look at the budget, talk 168 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: about the budget, but the real power is in the 169 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: Appropriations committee. And the Appropriations Committee never passes a comprehensive 170 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:35,319 Speaker 1: budget if you can avoid it, because that would restrict 171 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,079 Speaker 1: how much they got to spend. And since they want 172 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 1: to spend more both the House and the Senate, you 173 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: might think of them as conspiracies to maximize their ability 174 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: to do the things they want to do, and so 175 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 1: they're not very excited about a single central budget. Well, 176 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: I came to Washington with this notion that we ought 177 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: to really use the budget the way the British did, 178 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:01,440 Speaker 1: that the budget should become a central document. And as 179 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: early as my freshman term, I was working with David Stockman, 180 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,439 Speaker 1: who was a more senior congressman who became Director of 181 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,559 Speaker 1: the Budget for Ronald Reagan. And in nineteen eighty Stockman, 182 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: as a congressman, was working on budgets, and I asked 183 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 1: if I could work with him, and we designed what 184 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: we called a Budget of Hope and Opportunity. Now, most 185 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: of our colleagues were not very excited by this. They said, 186 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: first of all, it's never going to become law because 187 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,679 Speaker 1: we're the Republicans and we're in the minority. And second, 188 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: you're going to get us to vote for things which 189 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: cuts spending, and our opponents are going to run against 190 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: us and attack us because we didn't spend as much 191 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: money as the left wanted to spend. And they were 192 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 1: right in the sense that the left can always outbid 193 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 1: the right, because the left loves to spend money, believes 194 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: in big government, and is very cheerful about paying off 195 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: its allies. So the Republicans in that era were sort of, yes, 196 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: but well, we'll go to the direction you want to 197 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,240 Speaker 1: go in, but not as fast, or not as big, 198 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: or not as expensive, which frankly did not get them 199 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: anywhere in terms of becoming a majority, because a pale pastel, 200 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 1: as Reagan once put it, is not exactly what people wanted. 201 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,680 Speaker 1: They wanted bold colors. That's a paraphrase of Reagan speech 202 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: to the Sepack, I think in nineteen seventy nine. So 203 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: I wanted to paint a bold color. And we worked 204 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,080 Speaker 1: on the budget off and on all through the nineteen eighties, 205 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: who worked with the Reagan team, and it was fascinating 206 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: to watch. There was a very deep division in the 207 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: Reagan team. The true Reagan Knights wanted much lower taxes, 208 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: much more economic growth, and much less spending, and they 209 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: were prepared to go out and do the things necessary 210 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: to achieve that. The Republicans, who were sort of pre 211 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: Reagan Republicans, did not want to cut taxes, and in fact, 212 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: two of them senior officials in the Reagan administration the 213 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: night that the Reagan three year Tax got passed, apparently 214 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,839 Speaker 1: sat in a car outside the White House plotting how 215 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 1: to get the money back. Because there's a huge difference here. 216 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: The Reaganites, which I was one, believed that the money 217 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 1: was actually the American people's money, and that the American 218 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: people had the right to keep their own money. The 219 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 1: others believed, both Liberals and the non Reagan Republicans believed 220 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: that the money belonged to the government, and when we 221 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 1: were cutting taxes, we were taking money away from the government. 222 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 1: We thought we were allowing people to keep their own money. 223 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 1: This is a huge, deep philosophical difference which still exists. 224 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: Although the Reaganites have mostly won in the Republican side, 225 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:41,560 Speaker 1: but they certainly have not won in the news media 226 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: or with the Democrats. It's a famous story. At one 227 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 1: point him Baker, who was an extraordinary bright guy and 228 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: an amazingly good chief of staff and somebody I respect deeply, 229 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: but he had been convinced by his deputy to argue 230 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: for a tax increase. And there's a story in the 231 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,839 Speaker 1: New York Times of Baker coming into the cabinet room 232 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: and making an argument for why they should raise taxes, 233 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:10,960 Speaker 1: and Reagan taking off his glasses and looking at Baker 234 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: and saying, Jim, if you believe what you just said, 235 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 1: why are you in this government? And supposedly Baker walked outside, 236 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: turned to his assistant and said, we will never ever 237 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: again talk about raising taxes while he is president. And 238 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: of course, ultimately this anti tax increased bias led to 239 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: the famous George HW. Bush promise, you read my lips, 240 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: no new taxes. But Bush, in fact was a pre 241 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: Reagan Republican, and so when he broke his word in 242 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: ninety I am certain they had no idea symbolically and 243 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,320 Speaker 1: emotionally how big a disaster that was for his presidency 244 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: and how much it would lead to his defeat two 245 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: years later. He did it in the name of balancing 246 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: the budget. And this is one of the first keys 247 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: I want to emphasize ray seeing taxes never balances the budget, 248 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: because what happens is the left spends the money. So 249 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: all you do when you raise taxes is you give 250 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: them a bigger credit card and they go running out 251 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: paying off more allies, creating an even bigger government. And 252 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: we just could not get that across to President Bush. 253 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: That the whole game by the Democrats, which they spent 254 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: all of the summer of nineteen ninety working on, was 255 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: to get him to break his word and to get 256 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: more money for them. And in fact, by the time 257 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: they passed it against mice very strong opposition, they had 258 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: to pay off the Democrats. You're in effect paying off 259 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 1: the left with more spending to get them to agree 260 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 1: to raise taxes on your voters. I thought it was 261 00:15:45,360 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: truly maniacally foolish. So we entered the nineteen nineties and 262 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: I had become the Republican whip and ultimately the Republican leader, 263 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: and we developed the contract with America, and we put 264 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: in the contract which was ten items, all of them 265 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: very popular, and one of the most popular was balancing 266 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: the federal budget. And what we put in was that 267 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: we would vote on a constitutional amendment to require a 268 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: balanced budget. Now we'd been getting bipartisan support for a 269 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: constitutional amendment. We had a number of what we call 270 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: blue dog Democrats at that time, conservative Democrats who were 271 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: prepared to go out and argue for a balanced budget amendment. 272 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: We brought it up as we had promised. It passed 273 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 1: the House. To remember, a constitutional majority is two thirds 274 00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: plus one. You got to get a big vote. We 275 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: asked the House with over three hundred votes. Then I 276 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,200 Speaker 1: went to the Senate. We lost in the Senate by 277 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: one vote. We needed sixty seven. We got sixty six, 278 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: and sadly, one Republican voted no, and that cost us 279 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: the constitutional amendment. And this is one of the things 280 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:20,639 Speaker 1: which made the nineteen ninety four House Republicans so different. 281 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,080 Speaker 1: There was a brief moment when the normal thing to 282 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: have done would be to say, well, we kept our word, 283 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,640 Speaker 1: we vote on the amendment. It didn't pass, but life 284 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: will go on. Instead, what happened was we had a 285 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 1: leadership dinner on the House side and we all sat 286 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,280 Speaker 1: around and we said, you know, if we had three 287 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:43,200 Speaker 1: hundred plus people voting in the House and sixty six 288 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,919 Speaker 1: people voting yes in the Senate. What if we actually 289 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: brought up a balanced budget. Yes, we didn't quite get 290 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,720 Speaker 1: to the amendment, but that's a big enough majority. Maybe 291 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: we could embarrass people into voting yes on a balanced 292 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,720 Speaker 1: budget since they had voted for a constant dal amendment. 293 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:04,879 Speaker 1: And we had a very long discussion because it was 294 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: a huge decision. We knew it was a decision which 295 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: would change the whole nature of how we governed and 296 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,679 Speaker 1: which would force us to confront problems and to be 297 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: deeply involved. So as we were doing that that evening, 298 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: we went around ahead of vote and we were unanimous. 299 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,880 Speaker 1: We had all voted for the constitutional amendment. The constitutional 300 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: amendment said we'd balanced the budget in seven years, which 301 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: was the implementation time for the constitutional amendment, and so 302 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,920 Speaker 1: we were kind of giddy with excitement. I mean, this 303 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:41,280 Speaker 1: was truly a change and something Washington clearly did not expect. 304 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: And I think that's fascinating to go back and look 305 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: in that period and realize how radically different it was. 306 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,360 Speaker 1: In that prayer. For example, Leon Panetta, who was Clinton's 307 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: budget chief and who had been the chairman of the 308 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: House Budget Committee. He said during the campaign when he 309 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: looked at the contract with America quote, it would be 310 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: all but impossible to balance the budget under the Republican 311 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:10,439 Speaker 1: contract because of the promised revenue cuts and spending the 312 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,040 Speaker 1: Washam posts on May tenth, nineteen ninety five route quote. 313 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: Senate Republicans yesterday offered a politically daring and far reaching 314 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,119 Speaker 1: plan to balance the budget by two thousand and two 315 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:26,200 Speaker 1: by substantially reducing Medicare and Medicaid, slashing foreign aid, excepting 316 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,360 Speaker 1: a further decline in defense spending, and ordering deep, potentially 317 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: painful cuts in hundreds of other popular domestic programs. Well, 318 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: liberals were going nuts, and they were convinced we couldn't 319 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: do it. But what is fascinating is we had gotten together, 320 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:44,119 Speaker 1: looked at each other in the eye as a group. 321 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: And it's very important. Arnold to Peak, who was a 322 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,159 Speaker 1: French general in the nineteenth century, said one time that 323 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: if four strangers encounter a lion, the four strangers will 324 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 1: run away, but if four friends encounter a lion, they'll 325 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: collectively kill the lion. And in a sense, what we 326 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,119 Speaker 1: had was a group of friends who had become leaders 327 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: in the House for the first time in forty years. 328 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,160 Speaker 1: We had chairman, we had majority leaders, we had the Speaker, 329 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: and we're all sitting there looking at each other with 330 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 1: our senior staffs who are going to be key to 331 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: implementing this. And Rick May was the key from the 332 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,000 Speaker 1: Budget Committee side, as I'll come back to and we 333 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: just decided, yeah, we're going for it. I'll never forget. 334 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: I was told later that Bill Archer, who was a 335 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,160 Speaker 1: very senior congressman chairman of the Ways and Means Committee 336 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: from Houston, Texas, who had come to Washington in nineteen 337 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,439 Speaker 1: seventy two to balance the federal budget, and as he 338 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,639 Speaker 1: walked away that night, he turned his chief of staff 339 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 1: and said, do you know, I think we're actually going 340 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: to do this? And it was kind of a sense 341 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:51,200 Speaker 1: of wonder while the following week, the guy who really 342 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,920 Speaker 1: was the key to the whole thing, John Kasik, chairman 343 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: of the Budget Committee, comes wandering into the leadership meeting 344 00:20:57,600 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: and says, you know, guys, now that I'm actually looking 345 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,679 Speaker 1: at this, I'm not sure we can balance it in 346 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,919 Speaker 1: seven years. I mean, that's really maybe too hard. It 347 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:11,760 Speaker 1: might take ten. And I said, wait a second, didn't 348 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 1: we have in the contract with America a constitutional amendment 349 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,080 Speaker 1: that said we would balance the budget in seven years? 350 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: Didn't we vote for the constitutional amendment which said we'd 351 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,120 Speaker 1: balance the budget for seven years? In Casey said, yeah, 352 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:29,639 Speaker 1: but you aren't the guys in charge of the budget committee. 353 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: I'm telling you this is going to be really hard. 354 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: So in a cheerful spirit of free society, I said, 355 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: let's put it to a vote. Everybody who thinks we 356 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: should balance the budget in seven years, raise your hand. 357 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: And of course every hand went up. He said, Kay Sick, 358 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:47,880 Speaker 1: I said, everybody was against. Raise your hand. Ka Sick 359 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: raised his hands. This is going to be really hard. 360 00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: The following week, one of the happiest things I ever did. 361 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: We had a marble block designed to be put on 362 00:21:56,359 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: your desk that said balance budget seven years, and we 363 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:02,880 Speaker 1: handed it to Kasik and said, this is for your 364 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: desk to remind you that we're going to get there. Now. 365 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,399 Speaker 1: What's amazing is we actually balanced the budget in four years. 366 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: And in fact, I just got a note from Rick May, 367 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,880 Speaker 1: who had been the staff director of budget, and he said, 368 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 1: if you measure it from the time we signed the 369 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: balanced budget agreement, because we're starting this fight in ninety five. 370 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: He said, it was actually one year from signing the 371 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,440 Speaker 1: agreement that we had balanced the budget. I say that 372 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:31,119 Speaker 1: because people will tell you we can't turn this around. 373 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: I'm going to walk you through some ways to turn 374 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: it around. But I want to emphasize it is a 375 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: historic fact that the House Republicans and the Senate Republicans 376 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties balanced the budget for four straight years, 377 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,359 Speaker 1: and that, in fact, it had a huge, huge impact 378 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: on the national debt. I'll give you an example. We 379 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: had Originally, I've been expected to have a huge, steadily 380 00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: increasing national debt, but the Congressional Budget Office reported in 381 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: December of nineteen ninety seven, quote, budgetary implications of the 382 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: Balanced Budget Act of nineteen ninety seven were to result 383 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: in one hundred and sixty billion dollars in spending reductions 384 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: between nineteen ninety eight and two thousand and two. After 385 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: accounting for an increase in spending on welfare and children's healthcare, 386 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: that four year turnaround was ultimately five trillion dollars. Now 387 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 1: think about that. They projected by January nineteen nin nine, 388 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,720 Speaker 1: they projected that over ten years, we would have two 389 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: point three trillion dollars of federal surplus rather than two 390 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:47,159 Speaker 1: point seven trillion dollars a deficit. That's how fast the 391 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: turnaround was President Bill Clinton, and he deserves credit for this. 392 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:52,880 Speaker 1: I mean people often say to me, well, Clinton didn't 393 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,400 Speaker 1: balance the budget, the congressional Republicans did. That's true at 394 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: one level, but remember in our system, if the president 395 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: doesn't signed it, it's hard to get it into law. 396 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: And ultimately President Clinton concluded that he had to be 397 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: for our balanced budget on our terms. Now that took 398 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: a huge tough fight. In fact, we closed the government 399 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,960 Speaker 1: I think for something like seventeen days over Christmas, which 400 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: really irritated Callista because her parents had come to town 401 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 1: and they couldn't get certain tours because of course, the 402 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: first thing the Interior Department does is it closes the 403 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial to maximize public pain 404 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: when you go through these kind of fights. But at 405 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: the end of that time, Clinton agreed that we would 406 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: get to a balanced budget with real scoring because they 407 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: came back originally said it'll take ten years and we 408 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,640 Speaker 1: get to have phony scoring. And we said, now, this 409 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: is not some game. This is a serious effort to 410 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:55,199 Speaker 1: profoundly change the fiscal trajectory the United States. So we 411 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 1: got Clinton to agree to sign it, and on September thirtieth, 412 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight, President Clinton announced the first balanced federal 413 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: budget in a generation, gave a speech of the White House, 414 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:09,199 Speaker 1: and he said to follow, I'm quoting President Clinton now 415 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: quote for twenty nine years. The last day of the 416 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: fiscal year was not a day of celebration, but a 417 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,200 Speaker 1: day we were handed a powerful reminder of our government's 418 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: inability to live within its means. In the twelve years 419 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: before this administration took office, the debt quadrupled, partisan gridlock intensified, 420 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,480 Speaker 1: and a crushing debt was being imposed upon our children. 421 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:38,239 Speaker 1: These deficits hobbled economic growth, spiked interest rates, robbed too 422 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: many people of their chance at the American dream. The 423 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,639 Speaker 1: end of this fiscal year, obviously, is different, as the 424 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:49,440 Speaker 1: flashing sign behind me shows tonight at midnight, America puts 425 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:53,119 Speaker 1: an end to three decades of deficits and launches a 426 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: new era of balanced budget and surpluses. While the numbers 427 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: will not be official until the end of the month, 428 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: we expect the nineteen ninety eight surplus to be about 429 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: seventy billion dollars. So that's how fast it had turned around. 430 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,879 Speaker 1: And of course delicious moment when the then chairman of 431 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 1: the Federal Reserve of Alan Greenspan went to testify to 432 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:20,760 Speaker 1: the Senate and said the Federal Reserve was now studying 433 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,720 Speaker 1: how they would manage the monetary supply if there was 434 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: no debt, because there were projections that within a decade 435 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,919 Speaker 1: we would have paid off the federal debt. Now that 436 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,960 Speaker 1: all fell apart after two thousand with the attack of 437 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 1: nine to eleven, and frankly with a loss of will 438 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: because getting to a balanced budget every single year requires willpower. 439 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: So let me talk about how we balanced the budget. 440 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,440 Speaker 1: And let me say first of all that then Congressman 441 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: later Governor John Kasick was at the absolute center of this. 442 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: I'll never forget. Kasik had been the ranking member of 443 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:17,879 Speaker 1: the Budget Committee when the Democrats were in charge, and 444 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,920 Speaker 1: he was courageous and intelligent and hard working, and so 445 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: I had asked him to design a budget that would 446 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,399 Speaker 1: move us towards a balanced budget, and he did. It 447 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,919 Speaker 1: was a really heroic effort, and his team, led by 448 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 1: Rick May, just an outstanding work. We went and had 449 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:36,359 Speaker 1: a conference with our members, and remember we were in 450 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,879 Speaker 1: the minority. Nobody thought we could get to be the majority. 451 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,159 Speaker 1: And so all of a sudden, here come Gangwich and 452 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,919 Speaker 1: Kaysick with this weird idea, why don't we get you 453 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: to vote on a really bold, really decisive, balanced budget 454 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 1: that you're gonna have a hard time explaining back home, 455 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,120 Speaker 1: and it probably won't become law anyway, because after all, 456 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,679 Speaker 1: we're Republicans. And so I sat at the back of 457 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 1: the room. John got up and about forty five minutes 458 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:05,920 Speaker 1: walked members through this proposal. Well, they were enraged because 459 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: he had all these changes that he was taking on 460 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,960 Speaker 1: all these risks, and they just yelled at him. And 461 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 1: I sat and watched and John very tough as any 462 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:15,760 Speaker 1: of you though who's ever watched him on TV. He 463 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: doesn't back down easily, and that's how he fought back. 464 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,400 Speaker 1: And then at the very end, the members left grumbling, 465 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: and kay Sick walked over to me and said, well, 466 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: what do we do now? And I said, well, we 467 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: moved the budget and they'll vote yes. But they had 468 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: to get out of their system, and that was kind 469 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: of the spirit of moving forward. We were going to 470 00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:41,240 Speaker 1: do very bold, very daring things. But here's the advantage 471 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: we had, and this is the number one reason I 472 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: favor going back to a balanced budget. Now, if I 473 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,479 Speaker 1: come to you and say let's cut spending, your answer 474 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,000 Speaker 1: is fine, I wonder who we can get to cut 475 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: their spending. But if I come to you and say 476 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 1: we're going to get to a balanced budget, so we 477 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,720 Speaker 1: all have to cut spending, now you're in a different 478 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: position because now you've got to say, no, I'm not 479 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,640 Speaker 1: going to be part of balancing the budget, so I'm 480 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: not going to cut any of my spending. And instead 481 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: what happens is people begin to look around and find 482 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: ways to be helpful. One of the key things was 483 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,360 Speaker 1: the case he's learned very early in this process that 484 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,320 Speaker 1: you could not run over people. You couldn't go to 485 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: a member and just say we're going to do it 486 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:24,960 Speaker 1: whether you like it or not. This is the opposite 487 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: by the way of the Pelosi dictatorship model. Our model 488 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,720 Speaker 1: was we wanted to listen to you and learn from 489 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,560 Speaker 1: you and help you so you'd let us lead. And 490 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 1: in that process we talked a lot about unlocking people, 491 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: not running over people, finding out what their real problems were. 492 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,280 Speaker 1: The only one that was big that we really could 493 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: not solve was medicaid in New Jersey. The New Jersey 494 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: delegation and the Governor of New Jersey got it in 495 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,280 Speaker 1: their heads that they would not vote for the entire 496 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 1: budget if we didn't let New Jersey alone with medicaid. 497 00:29:57,080 --> 00:29:59,320 Speaker 1: And in the end we crumbled because they all came 498 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,520 Speaker 1: down as a group and they were all standing there, 499 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: including the governor, and it was clear that we weren't 500 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,479 Speaker 1: going to be able to shake them, and there were 501 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: too many votes. You couldn't pass it if you lost 502 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 1: all of them. So there were moments like that the 503 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,440 Speaker 1: you just had to live through. It took an enormous 504 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: amount of effort. I can appreciate people who would say, oh, 505 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:22,880 Speaker 1: we really can't do this, but the reward was that 506 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:27,960 Speaker 1: we had tremendous economic growth. We reformed the federal government. 507 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 1: Remember this was a period where we reformed welfare, we 508 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:37,080 Speaker 1: reformed Medicare, we reformed the Food and Drug Administration, we 509 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: reformed the Telecommunications Act. I mean we were going through 510 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 1: the system stage by stage. We took on the Pentagon. 511 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: I had helped found the Military Reform Caucus back in 512 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties because I felt that the Pentagon was 513 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: too bureaucratic, too bloated, something which Casik agreed with. The 514 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,760 Speaker 1: only thing that we actually dramatically increased spending was the 515 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: National Institute's of Health, and that's because we were convinced 516 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: that the amount of good we would get out of 517 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,360 Speaker 1: the National Institute's of Health in breakthroughs, in terms of 518 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 1: new medicine, new cures was so big it deserved to 519 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: be singled out, and we actually launched a track to 520 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: double the spending on the National Institute of Health at 521 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: a time when we were being very tough on all 522 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: other spending. Now, I would say that part of the 523 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,960 Speaker 1: difference was that we really believed in science. We really 524 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: believed in the long run that the best way to 525 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: cut the cost of healthcare is to find cures so 526 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 1: people in fact live longer, live better, live healthier. And 527 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 1: we're about to see, by the way, one of the 528 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 1: great breakthroughs because sickle cell anemia, which is a very 529 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:53,840 Speaker 1: big challenge for about twenty percent of the Black community, 530 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:57,080 Speaker 1: is about to be cured. And there's no question about that. 531 00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: It's now in a test phase and it's going to 532 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: be a remark arcable liberation for millions of people who 533 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 1: otherwise would be suffering very, very painfully. And so those 534 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,280 Speaker 1: are the kind of things we were working on and creating, frankly, 535 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: the intellectual base that allowed us to move so quickly 536 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:19,680 Speaker 1: on things like vaccinations for COVID. So in that context, 537 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,200 Speaker 1: I actually look back and regret that we did not 538 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,240 Speaker 1: substantially increase the National Science Foundation, which was I think 539 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: the one big mistake we made in that period. I 540 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:33,280 Speaker 1: think it's important to recognize that we looked at every 541 00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,959 Speaker 1: single aspect of the federal government, and we looked at 542 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: trying to find out exactly what would happen and how 543 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: we could have an effect on saving money. And we 544 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:49,040 Speaker 1: had really a dual strategy. One strategy was to control 545 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: the spending by the federal government. The other strategy was 546 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: to accelerate economic growth. So we had, for example, the 547 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: largest tax cut in capital gains in history, including allowing 548 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: you to sell your home and pay no capital gains 549 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:08,719 Speaker 1: tax if you were in a position to buy a 550 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: new home, so that literally as long as you were 551 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:14,280 Speaker 1: moving from house to house, you didn't penny taxes on it, 552 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 1: which was a dramatic increase in the housing industry. We 553 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 1: also took a position that with capital gains cuts that 554 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,720 Speaker 1: there'd be an enormous increase in investment, which turned out 555 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:28,800 Speaker 1: to be true. We launched a period of dramatic economic growth, 556 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:33,479 Speaker 1: dramatic new investments, and the creation of new technologies in 557 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,160 Speaker 1: a way that just was remarkably helpful. So I think 558 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: all of those things really mattered. In that same context, 559 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: I think you cannot overstate the importance of the reform 560 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: of welfare. Welfare had grown totally out of control. We 561 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:55,960 Speaker 1: were basically encouraging people to be dependent. We were giving 562 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,680 Speaker 1: people money for doing nothing, and it was growing every 563 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: single year, both in cost but also in human cost, 564 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,400 Speaker 1: which I think is an important thing to remember. So 565 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,640 Speaker 1: in that context, when we reformed welfare, we had just 566 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 1: a remarkable impact of people who went back to work. 567 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:18,920 Speaker 1: And the largest single improvement in children living in poverty 568 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:23,279 Speaker 1: was that period. Because their parents went to work, they 569 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: got a better income, And the result was that all 570 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 1: of a sudden, you have a double good. You have 571 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: more people working. They're paying taxes, so that reduces the 572 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: amount of government's giving out as a subsidy, and at 573 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:42,840 Speaker 1: the same time it is increasing the amount of money 574 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: that people are paying in taxes because there are more 575 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:49,319 Speaker 1: people engaged in the economy, and their children are learning 576 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: a very important principle, which is getting up in the 577 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,560 Speaker 1: morning and going to work. And I think one of 578 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: the most discouraging things about the Obama Biden worldview is 579 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:03,120 Speaker 1: that they have methodically tried every where they could to 580 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: reduce the work requirements and to move us back to 581 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: the kind of welfare system that was such a disaster 582 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 1: before nineteen ninety four. And let me point out how 583 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:15,400 Speaker 1: deep we went into this. We had learned on welfare 584 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:19,320 Speaker 1: reform by looking at governors. We'd learned from Tommy Thompson, 585 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:23,480 Speaker 1: who was the great reform governor of Wisconsin. We'd learned 586 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,520 Speaker 1: from John Angler in Michigan, from George Allen in Virginia, 587 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,720 Speaker 1: and we actually invited them to send their welfare reform 588 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:36,000 Speaker 1: people in to help us design the bill, which kind 589 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,920 Speaker 1: of irritated the federal staff because they thought, Hey, we're 590 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:42,319 Speaker 1: the big guys were here in Washington, how come we 591 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:45,120 Speaker 1: have to deal with all these state people. But what 592 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: it did was it gave us really grassroots knowledge of 593 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:52,759 Speaker 1: what would work. And one of the great changes was 594 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:56,600 Speaker 1: we turned welfare offices from helping people find out how 595 00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:59,480 Speaker 1: to be dependent to helping people find out how to 596 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,600 Speaker 1: get a job, and every welfare office in the country 597 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:06,799 Speaker 1: began to be an employment office. So that kind of 598 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:10,200 Speaker 1: change had an impact that was enormous, not only on 599 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:13,000 Speaker 1: the federal government, but remember, if you get people to 600 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,799 Speaker 1: go to work and get off welfare, the impact that 601 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,960 Speaker 1: has on state and local governments is also very profound. 602 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:22,520 Speaker 1: So with all of these things going, our strategy was 603 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:27,000 Speaker 1: very straightforward. Get people to work, get the economy to grow, 604 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:33,000 Speaker 1: control spending, reform the government, and bam, you suddenly have 605 00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:35,719 Speaker 1: a balanced budget. Now, let me talk about where we 606 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: are today, because I think in a way it might 607 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:42,520 Speaker 1: actually be easier to balance the budget today because the 608 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: government's bigger, sloppier, dumber, and more corrupt. You know. The 609 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,760 Speaker 1: Inspector General's report suggested that in terms of the COVID 610 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:59,040 Speaker 1: emergency spending, somewhere between a hundred billion and four hundred 611 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: billion is been stolen. Now, first of all, think about 612 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,759 Speaker 1: that range. They don't have any idea whether it's one 613 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,760 Speaker 1: hundred billion or four hundred billion, because the entire system 614 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,880 Speaker 1: is so sloppy that they don't have any kind of 615 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,759 Speaker 1: good cost controls. That have any kind of good accounting, 616 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:19,560 Speaker 1: they can't track the money, they don't know who the 617 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:26,240 Speaker 1: crooks are. From California, it's estimated that in unemployment compensation alone, 618 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:33,240 Speaker 1: thirty two billion dollars was stolen. According to the district 619 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,600 Speaker 1: attorney in Sacramento who I talked with is investigating it 620 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:41,280 Speaker 1: largely by prisoners in California prisons who used the prison 621 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:46,080 Speaker 1: computers in order to have identity theft, and then had 622 00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: the checks sent to locations where their friends either would 623 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:51,640 Speaker 1: go pick up the checks. Now, if you have a 624 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 1: system so sloppy and so incompetent that you're losing thirty 625 00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:59,200 Speaker 1: two billion dollars to prisoners, you know that there's got 626 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,920 Speaker 1: to be an ability to balance the federal budget. And 627 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:03,960 Speaker 1: I think you could go through every part, and by 628 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,280 Speaker 1: the way, I would include the Defense Department. We spend 629 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,160 Speaker 1: far more money than any other country in the world. 630 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,840 Speaker 1: I think, frankly, there's a tremendous amount of waste in 631 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:16,399 Speaker 1: the Pentagon. And I think that we would have a 632 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:20,759 Speaker 1: better defense system with fewer levels of bureaucracy and with 633 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: less regulation and less red tape. And you can do 634 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:28,040 Speaker 1: this across the whole system. In addition, frankly, there are 635 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:30,920 Speaker 1: a lot of programs that don't make any sense. If 636 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,319 Speaker 1: you have a school system in which, for example, in 637 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:37,759 Speaker 1: Baltimore City, there are five schools in which not a 638 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:40,920 Speaker 1: single student has been able to pass the state exam, 639 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:44,120 Speaker 1: what are you paying the teachers for? I mean, they're 640 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:47,960 Speaker 1: clearly not teaching. If you have nationally and estimated thirty 641 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,360 Speaker 1: five percent of the students who don't show up in 642 00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:54,359 Speaker 1: the inner city schools, but the school gets paid as 643 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:57,400 Speaker 1: though the students are there. How much that's pure waste? 644 00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:00,319 Speaker 1: And you can go through item by item. I did 645 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,440 Speaker 1: this in the nineties. I know that it's doable, and 646 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:05,960 Speaker 1: I know that if we had a majority in the 647 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 1: House and a majority in the Senate that took seriously 648 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:12,680 Speaker 1: getting to a balanced budget, that we would be astonished 649 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:15,320 Speaker 1: how rapidly they would have to get there. But remember 650 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:21,239 Speaker 1: what I said earlier, Control spending accelerate economic growth. It's 651 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:24,960 Speaker 1: the two together that matter. So the right tax cuts, 652 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:29,879 Speaker 1: the right deregulation, the right incentives for investment, the right 653 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:34,480 Speaker 1: incentives to create jobs. All of those things compound and 654 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:38,280 Speaker 1: allow you to get to a balanced budget much faster. 655 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:42,480 Speaker 1: You'll never get there by pain for a practical reason. 656 00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,799 Speaker 1: The American people aren't stupid. If they think you're going 657 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,600 Speaker 1: to cause them enough pain, they fire you, as I 658 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:51,719 Speaker 1: think the Biden Democrats are about to discover you. You 659 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:57,320 Speaker 1: create enough inflation, you create enough waste, you create enough inconvenience, 660 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:01,799 Speaker 1: you create enough logistics supply chain problems, you create enough 661 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:05,400 Speaker 1: people crossing the border illegally with no check for COVID 662 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 1: or for criminal records. All those things come together, and 663 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: guess what. The American people decide that's not what they want, 664 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:14,000 Speaker 1: and they fire you. And I think the Democrats will 665 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,320 Speaker 1: learn that. But the Republicans need to learn to skip 666 00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,680 Speaker 1: the intervening years. Go back to the period in nineteen 667 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:24,399 Speaker 1: ninety four to nineteen ninety eight and look at what 668 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:30,320 Speaker 1: was done to create dramatic economic growth, to create dramatic reform, 669 00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:33,040 Speaker 1: to put people back to work, and to give people 670 00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:35,600 Speaker 1: something to do with their lives that made them feel 671 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:39,960 Speaker 1: like they had opportunity, not just dependency. And look what 672 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:44,080 Speaker 1: happened when we balance the budget, reduced interest rates. Nothing 673 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:47,160 Speaker 1: would do more to control inflation than getting to a 674 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:50,000 Speaker 1: balanced budget. So I just wanted to take this time 675 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:53,359 Speaker 1: to share with you my own personal experience, I know 676 00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,680 Speaker 1: the budget can be balanced. I think it would have 677 00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:58,600 Speaker 1: an enormous impact on the inflation rate. I think it 678 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,160 Speaker 1: would have a tremendous impact on the future health of 679 00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,680 Speaker 1: our children and our grandchildren. And I think it would 680 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:07,680 Speaker 1: make America dramatically stronger in the world. And I hope 681 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:10,400 Speaker 1: if this makes sense to you that you'll communicate it 682 00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,200 Speaker 1: to your friends and your neighbors. You'll communicate it to 683 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:17,080 Speaker 1: your congressman and your senators, because if we could relaunch 684 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:20,560 Speaker 1: a balanced budget movement, I think we'd have a huge 685 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,560 Speaker 1: impact getting the waste out of government, the corruption out 686 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:27,320 Speaker 1: of government, making choices about what really matters, and getting 687 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:30,040 Speaker 1: America to be a much much healthier place with a 688 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:41,200 Speaker 1: much more positive future. You can learn more about why 689 00:41:41,239 --> 00:41:44,120 Speaker 1: we need to balance budget now on our show page 690 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,640 Speaker 1: at newtsworld dot com. Newts World is produced by Ginglish 691 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:52,280 Speaker 1: Sweet sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan, 692 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:57,400 Speaker 1: our producer is Rebecca Howe, and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. 693 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,400 Speaker 1: The artwork for the show who created by Steve Penley. 694 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:06,120 Speaker 1: Special thanks the team at Gingwich three sixty. If you've 695 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:08,800 Speaker 1: been enjoying newts World. I hope you'll go to Apple 696 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:12,440 Speaker 1: Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give 697 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,640 Speaker 1: us a review so others can learn what it's all about. 698 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:18,840 Speaker 1: Right now, listeners of news World can sign up for 699 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:23,000 Speaker 1: my three free weekly columns at Gingwich three sixty dot 700 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:27,759 Speaker 1: com slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingridge. This is Newtsworld