Balancing the Federal Budget

By Ron Packard

Balancing the federal budget is not about manipulating numbers or twisting the truth. It is about ensuring the future of our nation. Young parents are afraid they won't be able to send their children to college because of skyrocketing interest rates on loans. Newly married couples can't buy their first homes because mortgage rates are simply too high. American workers in their forties and fifties are desperately trying to save for retirement but are faced with outrageous taxes and government regulations. Almost no young people believe that Social Security and Medicare will be there for them when they need help. These are real people with real concerns, and Ron believes that they deserve real answers.

Republicans gained the majority in Congress in 1994 because they promised to balance the budget and end deficit spending. Ron Packard and his colleagues delivered on this promise. Last summer, after years of negotiations and hard-fought victories, Congressional Republicans passed the first balanced budget in a generation. In just four years, they have saved American taxpayers over $170 billion by eliminating more than 300 outdated and unnecessary federal programs, streamlining government, and increasing accountability. Ron Packard worked hard to ensure that Washington would spend less so that American families could spend more.

Despite his rhetoric about cutting bureaucracy and keeping a balanced budget, the President recently proposed a budget with 85 new spending programs, sneaky budgetary gimmicks, and unsustainable spending in almost 40 new or existing entitlement programs. The Clinton budget also increases taxes by $106 billion, raising federal taxation to its highest level since 1945. Worst of all, the President's proposal violates the spending agreement reached in the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997. The President has refused a historic opportunity to continue our effort to eliminate wasteful spending and reform the federal bureaucracy.

Ron Packard is committed to maintaining the balanced budget and paying off the national debt. Every American will feel the practical, real-world effects of a balanced federal budget through lower interest rates, increased economic growth, and higher standards of living. In terms of real savings, a balanced budget is the greatest tax cut of all. Quite simply, the federal government must live within its means. The American people should not settle for less.