LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
Cokie Roberts introduction to report on the budget debate. The overview is constituents don't care about the details, but are worried about unemployment and inflation. Legislators have to make a budget before they can expect recovery, uncertain how to proceed.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
House chamber. Representative Howard Wolpe (D - Michigan), Mr Speaker, I ve just returned from a week in my district and I wish I could convey the incredible sense of frustration and fear throughout the district, I encountered in the cities and townships I visited.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
Representative Peter Peyser (D - New York), For those of us who have just returned from a work period, I think a message has come from the America people that should be very clear and hopefully the message will get through from the floor of the House, at least, to the White House.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
April 20, 1982. Ronald Reagan giving speech on White House porch. I know of nothing that would be a greater tonic for the economy right now than for the Congress and the White House to come together on a plan that would lower the deficits and create new jobs. This morning I met with the Republican leadership in the Congress and then later spoke by phone with Speaker Tip O'Neill. To both of them I delivered the same message: So long as we can reach consensus on a budget plan that is balanced and commands bipartisan support, I'm personally prepared to go the extra mile.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
Representative Leon Panetta (D - California), If there is no budget, then I think it feed into greater uncertainty in terms of the present economic situation. Uncertainty is one of the things that is eroding the situation to begin with. You have very unstable interest rates. The reason you have very unstable interest rates is because nobody is very certain that deficits are ever going to be controlled. What they see is deficits just going sky-high into the future. Secondly, that inflation, while it looks like it is in better control, is not really going to be controlled, in fact the dangers are that we are going to go into another inflationary cycle. And as a consequence you are not going to have long range investment in this country. You re going to have short range investment, if that. And you are not going to have an economic turnaround and you are going to have additional business failures.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
Cokie Roberts, Are you seeing the economy falling apart now? Tell us what you are seeing out there. Representative Leon Panetta (D - California), In my district, which is a district that has a fairly diverse economy, we have very high unemployment in most of the area. And just the other day, while I was sitting in my office, in one part of the district, kitty-corner from my office is a brand new of what is called Fidelity Savings And Loan. That day Fidelity Savings and Loan went into receivership. (S and L Crisis) We received hundreds of calls from investors wondering if their investment was safe, their deposit was safe with a Savings and Loan institution. That s happening. People are seeing that. This is real. And as a consequence, they re scared to death that this economy is going to collapse.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
Cokie Roberts, Is there a danger here that the Congress becomes the fall guy in all of this, that the President bails out and blames it on Congress? Representative Leon Panetta (D - California), That s a very real danger. From a political point of view there is the concern that somehow what the President will do is say that it really is all of Congress fault. That they can t develop a budget resolution. They can t come up with a compromise. And therefore, they re really responsible for everything that s screwed up in the economy.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
Cokie Roberts, So the Democrats are facing a risk if they do play along and then the President just leaves them out on a limb. Representative Leon Panetta (D - California), That s correct. If we do play and we negotiate it, the President could perhaps go after us for, in fact, having made the proposals that are not very popular. Or there s the other side of it, which is if we make an agreement and in fact bail out the economy that we in fact have operated to bail him out of a mess that he created. There are some who would argue that we shouldn t do that. Or thirdly, that if the economy goes down and we do nothing, that we ll bare the responsibility for that. So they re not very pleasant choices, but obviously in that context it seems to me that the only way we can go is to try to do the responsible thing and try to develop a compromise that does try to put the economy back on some kind of sane track.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
Cokie Roberts, What about the descent within the Democratic party. There s so many Democrats that are used to being responsible, used to governing. And then there are other Democrats who are saying, well that isn t the ball game anymore. We re the minority party and we should act like a minority party. (partisan political dynamics, the budget and elections) Representative Leon Panetta (D - California), The problem with that scenario really is, I guess that would be okay if the issue was not impacting on all Americans the way the economic issue impacts on all Americans. We are talking about a major, major issue, THE issue it seems to me, of not only of the campaign year, but of the future of the country. And to that extent I don t think you can simply stay in the trenches and throw grenades out. We ve got to get out there and fight the battles that have to be fought if we re going to develop an answer.
LAWMAKERS - Budget Debate
Paul Duke and Cokie Roberts - Discussion of the BUDGET and ECONOMIC RECOVERY, with $180 BILLION DEFICIT for next year, DISTRUST OF REAGAN by the Congress.