Osseo, WI -- U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today cautioned that while the
latest budget forecasts appears rosy, relatively minor shifts in the
economy could alter the budget outlook to reduce or eliminate surpluses in
the latest budget forecast. Before embarking on tax cuts or new spending
programs, Feingold called for first reducing the debt and shoring up the
Social Security and Medicare programs.
"If we enact huge tax cuts or spending increases now we may squander
the opportunity to address these looming problems, and pass on to our
children and grandchildren the burden of paying off our debt, extending
the solvency of Social Security, and modernizing Medicare," Feingold said.
"There’s little doubt that the budget picture has improved, thanks largely
to the tough choices made by Congress in 1993 when it passed President
Clinton’s historic deficit reduction package – the answer to this hard-won
success, however, isn’t to declare victory and return to the fiscal
policies that got us into the deficit mess in the first place."
Feingold said that the budget managed just barely to get back "in the
black" this year, but there is no guarantee that this trend will continue.
The latest projections of a surplus assume that Congress will maintain
some fiscal discipline, but just last year Congress used various budgeting
gimmicks to get around our budget caps to spend an extra $30 billion.
Feingold emphasized that in a new century where economic booms may come
and go, establishing fiscal policies that produce responsible budgets down
the road is crucial to the long-term fiscal health of the nation.
"Right now, the federal government’s bequest to future generations is
less than zero," Feingold said. "The challenge to this Congress must be to
build a fiscal policy to begin to address the debt, Social Security, and
Medicare, and to provide a legacy to future generations that builds fiscal
strength and stability for the long term, not political gain in the short
term."
Feingold's 17th Listening Session of 2000, and
521st since he was first elected in 1992, was held at Osseo
High School, beginning at 10:15 a.m. Feingold’s 18th session of
the year and 522nd since he was first elected took place at
Altoona Public Library beginning at 12:15
p.m.
