Balanced budget

“ To minimize the danger of future soaring prices and to keep our economy sound and expanding, I shall present to the Congress certain proposals.
First, I shall submit a balanced budget for the next year, a year expected to be the most prosperous in our history. It is a realistic budget with wholly attainable objectives.
If we cannot live within our means during such a time of rising prosperity, the hope for fiscal integrity will fade. If we persist in living beyond our means, we make it difficult for every family in our land to balance its own household budget. ”

“ And now we've got to finish the job.
Earlier this year I proposed a plan to balance the budget, and Congress' own economists have certified that plan will balance the budget in 7 years. Republicans in Congress have their own balanced budget plan. If you laid my plan and their plan side by side, you would find enough cuts in common to both plans to balance the budget and provide a tax cut for working families. So the ingredients for a balanced budget are clearly at hand. All we have to do is sit down together and assemble a final agreement based on the things we already agree on. ”

“ Getting control of the budget requires also that State and local governments and interested groups of citizens restrain themselves in their demands upon the Congress that the Federal Treasury spend more and more money for all types of projects.
A balanced budget is an essential first measure in checking further depreciation in the buying power of the dollar. This is one of the critical steps to be taken to bring an end to planned inflation. Our purpose is to manage the Government's finances so as to help and not hinder each family in balancing its own budget. ”

“ As expressed by the minister of finance in 1973, the budget contains a whole arsenal of financial and economic levers—levers that must be used ever more skillfully to raise the efficiency of economic performance, to improve the structure of production and consumption, and to bring about a well-balanced economy. The budget is also considered a tool for exercising effective control over the entire sphere of production and services, not only to ensure smooth current operations but also to inhibit any undesirable departures from official policy. ”

“ I refer now not only to the indispensable virtues of plain honesty and trustworthiness but also to the prudent, effective and conscientious use of tax money. I refer also to the attitude of mind that makes efficient and economical service to the people a watchword in our government.
Over the long term, a balanced budget is a sure index to thrifty management—in a home, in a business or in the Federal Government. When achievement of a balanced budget is for long put off in a business or home, bankruptcy is the result. ”

“ Our future can be one of boundless opportunity if we challenge the limits of growth through reforms like tax simplification and fight inflation by passing two longoverdue reforms: the balanced budget spending limitation amendment and the line-item veto. ”

“ This Administration has directed constant efforts toward fiscal responsibility. Balanced budgets have been sought when the economy was advancing, and a rigorous evaluation of spending programs has been maintained at all times. Resort to deficit financing in prosperous times could easily erode international confidence in the dollar and contribute to inflation at home. In this belief, I shall submit a balanced budget for fiscal 1962 to the Congress next week. ”

“ We can get them done, but only in the context of a realistic, responsible, balanced budget, one that maintains our fiscal discipline and makes the most of this great moment of prosperity. Now, that's a budget that makes sense, one that works for working Americans. ”

“ In time of high employment and a strong economy, deficit spending should not be a feature of our budget. As the economy continues to gain strength and as our unemployment rates continue to fall, revenues will grow. With careful planning, efficient management, and proper restraint on spending, we can move rapidly toward a balanced budget, and we will. ”

“ A government draws the breath of life from its finances, and it must balance its income and expenditures as any other going business concern if it expects to survive. It is my duty, then, to see that the Government of the Commonwealth live within its means and that it stands foursquare on a well balanced budget. ”

“ But now, the deficit has been cut for 4 years in a row, falling from $290 billion in 1992 to about $80 billion this year—more than two-thirds of the way home to our first balanced budget since the 1960's. All this has spurred lower interest rates, more investment, and stronger growth.
And the good news goes beyond low unemployment: Economic growth is at its highest in a decade; core inflation at its lowest in three decades; the largest decline in income inequality since the 1960's; and thanks to the hard work of the American people, 12 million new jobs. ”

“ Government efficiency and economy remain essential to steady progress toward a balanced budget. More than ten billion dollars were cut from the spending program proposed in the budget of January 9, 1953. ”

“ First, we must keep our Nation prosperous. We seek full employment opportunity for every American citizen. I will present a budget designed to move the economy forward. More money will be left in the hands of the consumer by a substantial cut in excise taxes. We will continue along the path toward a balanced budget in a balanced economy. ”

“ My budget will reduce our deficits not with aimless, reckless spending cuts that hurt students and seniors and middle-class families – but through the balanced approach that the American people prefer, and the investments that a growing economy demands. ”

“ First, we should sit down and pursue a balanced approach to a responsible budget, one that grows our economy faster and shrinks our long-term deficits further. There is no choice between growth and fiscal responsibility – we need both. ”

“ We have heard much about a balanced budget, and it is interesting to note that many of those who have pleaded for a balanced budget as the sole need now come to me to plead for additional government expenditures at the expense of unbalancing the budget. ”

“ We are going to have a balanced budget for the first time in over 25 years next year, except for the interest payments on the debt run up just between 1993 and 1981, in the 12 years before I came here. That's because we've made tough decisions. Do we need to make some more? ”

“ Lower taxes and greater investment will help this economy expand. More jobs mean more taxpayers, and higher revenues to our government. The best way to address the deficit and move toward a balanced budget is to encourage economic growth, and to show some spending discipline in Washington, D.C.
We must work together to fund only our most important priorities. ”

“ The first of these directions of action is the continuing reduction of all Government expenditures, whether national, State, or local. The difficulties of the country demand undiminished efforts toward economy in government in every direction. Embraced in this problem is the unquestioned balancing of the Federal Budget. That is the first necessity of national stability and is the foundation of further recovery. It must be balanced in an absolutely safe and sure manner if full confidence is to be inspired. ”

“ The only other alternative would have been to cut our essential develop­ment investment to a point where the budget would be balanced with no risk of inflation but at which economic forces would be at a standstill. ”

“ An artist using statistics as a brush could paint two very different pictures of our country. One would have warning signs: increasing layoffs, rising energy prices, too many failing schools, persistent poverty, the stubborn vestiges of racism. Another picture would be full of blessings: a balanced budget, big surpluses, a military that is second to none, a country at peace with its neighbors, technology that is revolutionizing the world, and our greatest strength, concerned citizens who care for our country and care for each other. ”

“ The Economic Report, which I shall submit to the Congress shortly, will discuss in detail the economic background for these recommendations.
One of the most important factors in maintaining prosperity is the Government's fiscal policy. At this time, it is essential not only that the Federal budget be balanced, but also that there be a substantial surplus to reduce inflationary pressures, and to permit a sizable reduction in the national debt, which now stands at $252 billion. ”

“ And while in theory there is bipartisan agreement on moving on balanced budgets, in practice, this responsibility for the future is often overwhelmed by the politics of the moment. It falls prey to the pressure of special interests, to the pull of local concerns, and to a reality familiar to every single American – the fact that it is a lot easier to spend a dollar than save one. ”

“ We won't bust the budget to pay for tax cuts. We'll cut spending and close corporate loopholes. That way we'll keep interest rates coming down as we balance the budget, so the economy can grow even faster and stronger. ”

“ But I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn't something on which we can base our hopes for the future. No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income. Today, 37 cents out of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collector's share, and yet our government continues to spend 17 million dollars a day more than the government takes in. We haven't balanced our budget 28 out of the last 34 years. ”

“ America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government. I welcome the bipartisan enthusiasm for spending discipline. I will send you a budget that holds the growth of discretionary spending below inflation, makes tax relief permanent, and stays on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009. (Applause.) My budget substantially reduces or eliminates more than 150 government programs that are not getting results, or duplicate current efforts, or do not fulfill essential priorities. The principle here is clear: Taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely, or not at all. ”

“ Are our government revenues increasing at a rate which gives hope that within a reasonably short period we shall be able to finance all our ordinary expenditures with current revenues and thereby balance our budget? ”

“ It is a budget that carries an enormous investment of human time and effort; indeed, I believe, the most exhaustive effort ever made to rein in government's chronic overspending. Every proposal is based on a careful review of what government should and should not do, what's worked and what hasn't, what we can and can no longer afford. Collectively, the more than 50 proposals we are making can stop the excessive growth of Federal spending in its tracks and put budget deficits on a permanent downward path. ”

“ Finally, since all the practical work in the domain of national and financial economy cannot and should not proceed otherwise than in accordance with a strictly defined plan, it is the function of the financial administration to create and compile the state budget in such a manner that it might approximate as closely as possible the budget of the entire national economic life. ”

“ This story should work itself out as one about an economy as resilient and full of potential as its people are patient and hardworking, guided by a government – with the executive and the legislative hand-in-hand — that is able to pass a no-nonsense budget and make the tough decisions to put our fiscal house in order. ”

“ And that is we change the desired funding level that we do so through paying for it, just as each and every family does in this country. They had "pay as you go" for quite some time and the economy grew, jobs were created and the budget deficit shrank. ”

“ We intend to work with those in Congress who are striving to put us back on the road to budget sanity. And just as we've done with credit reform, the administration will propose additional elements in what will be a comprehensive budget-process reform package. These reforms are important to you because they're a key to continued economic growth and job creation. It's time to put politics aside and do what the Congress knows has to be done sooner or later anyway: give the American people a budget process that controls spending, a budget process we can be proud of. ”

“ The savings in my budget are critical in helping us to keep our economy growing and creating jobs. Now members of Congress need to come together and send me a budget that funds our priorities, ensures that taxes stay low, and keeps us on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009. ”

“ Congress just keeps passing higher and higher spending bills, all the time ignoring its promises to the American people under Gramm-Rudman-Hollings: a promise to stop enacting a hodgepodge of excessive spending bills and come up instead with a comprehensive budget that keeps deficit spending under control. ”

“ We have to be responsible with our tax dollars. If we don't have a responsible budget, nothing else can get done. That's why with each budget I've submitted to Congress, we've cut Government, cut the deficit, and still invested more in the American people so that they can make the most of their own lives.
Two years ago when I submitted my first budget, some argued that it was impossible to dramatically reduce the deficit, increase investment in education and training and jobs, and create economic opportunities. ”

“ Balancing the budget by reducing government spending is the one piece left to put into place if we're to keep our prosperity going strong in the years to come.
For years, we've piled deficit on top of deficit, mortgaging our future and that of future generations. ”