After hard

negotiations with the White House, the House of

Representatives passed the final appropriations bills

last Thursday.

We worked hard to craft a

bill that met the goals spelled out in the Balanced

Budget Resolution passed earlier this session. Our goal

was to build a firewall between spending and the Social

Security Trust Fund, and to improve defense and

education.

This was not an easy task.

At the end of the day, spending was higher than I wished

and lower than the spenders wanted.

That is the sort of give

and take that makes this republic work. I was not happy

that Congress used the term "emergency funding"

to describe some large spending measures; however, the

end result was more important. For the first time in 30

years, Congress walled off the Social Security Trust

Fund.

Before the Republican

majority took over in 1994, economists laughed at

suggestions of a real balanced budget and said government

could survive only by raiding the trust fund. We've

proven them wrong.

This was the most

significant achievement of this Congress. You might say

it was the fiscal equivalent of getting a drug addict to

quit his habit. The positive cash flow coming from

payroll taxes was an irresistible temptation to spenders.

This year we just said, "no."

We did this and still

managed to boost spending and local control over

education funding. We hiked our soldiers' pay, and

strengthened our military. We managed to pay down $88

billion of the national debt.

Even with these

achievements, there is more to do. I am going to work

hard in the second half of the 106th Congress so that we

will again have a balanced budget amendment and will live

within its limits. I want to see Congress do this, but

with less creative accounting. That will take not only my

efforts, but the support of Georgia's taxpayers.

When Congress passed the

Balanced Budget Act in 1997, it included measures

designed to preserve Medicare by cutting wasteful

spending. Unfortunately, the Administration went too far.

Their cuts went too deep and were hurting many health

care providers. Rural hospitals, which have a

disproportionate share of Medicare and Medicaid

recipients, were among the hardest hit.

This act assists rural

hospitals, offers beneficiaries more flexibility through

Medicare+Choice, and improves outpatient rehabilitation

service. It also ensures continued availability of home

health care services, and helps teaching hospitals.

This Congress scored two

victories for children. We preserved language blocking

use of American funds to provide for United Nations

programs promoting abortion.

The House also passed a

plan to provide initiatives for foster youth to adjust to

life on their own. The Ways and Means Committee, on which

I sit, drafted the bill to help 18-year-olds make the

tough transition from foster care to life on their own.

H.R. 3443 (formerly H.R. 1802), "the Foster Care

Independence Act of 1999," doubles the funding to

States to conduct independent living programs for foster

care youths making the transition to adulthood. The bill

is expected to pass the Senate and be signed by the

President in the coming weeks.

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