mr. chairman , i yield myself the balance of my time .  i am particularly grateful for the opportunity to be here to make this presentation as required under law by humphrey-hawkins because i think it is very important perhaps that the record be set straight .  any member of the house who is serious about controlling the deficit , about maintaining the forward movement in the economy , growing jobs , and the social justice that could only come through economic growth should be prepared to strongly support this budget resolution .  mr. chairman , a couple of points i think need to be made in response to the interesting presentations that were made on the other side .  first of all , on the issue of jobs .  we have heard the criticism that our friends on the other side of the aisle try to blame president bush for an economic slowdown that he inherited from the clinton administration that was exacerbated by 9/11 .  the truth is economic policies that have been adopted by this congress , working with the administration , have been successful in helping the u.s. economy rebound from the recession into a sustained expansion , with strong growth in the gross domestic product and payroll jobs .  despite all of the problems that this president inherited , the tax relief policies of the past 4 years that our friends on the other side of the aisle are striving to sabotage have helped to restore economic growth and job creation .  during 2004 , real gdp grew 4.4 percent , the strongest annual performance in 5 years , one of the strongest growth performances of the past 20 years , belying the glooming forecast we have heard on the other side .  private forecasters ' projections for real gdp growth for this year are being revised upward .  growth for 2005 is expected to be at a 3.7 percent robust rate .  more americans , mr. chairman , are working today than at anytime in our nation 's history , and employment is at a record level of more than 140 million .  the unemployment rate in february was 5.4 percent , lower than the averages for each of the last three decades .  payroll employment rose by 2.2 million jobs during 2004 .  it is up by more than 3 million jobs since may of 2003 .  last month , we saw employment gains of 262 , 000 jobs , more than a quarter of a million new jobs in the month of february alone .  this suggests that there is clearly forward motion in the economy .  mr. chairman , let us compare that to some of our trading partners .  those who last year invoked the great depression in describing recent economic conditions have been , after all , often favoring policies that would increase government intervention in the economy .  yet some of those countries where those sorts of policies are applied are not doing as well as we are .  economic growth in europe is generally slower than that of the united states .  the unemployment rate in europe is much higher than in the u.s. in january of 2005 , europe had an unemployment rate of 8.8 percent , substantially higher than our u.s. level of 5.4 percent .  the fact is , by following on a path of high growth and low taxes , we are moving the economy in the right direction , and ultimately , if we are prepared to put in place fiscal policies that restrain the deficit , that will allow us to grow the economy in the right direction .  i have heard a couple of extraordinary claims on the floor of the house that we are facing a record debt .  i suppose that is true if we look at this in a purely static , green eyeshade perspective , but what really matters with the national debt , as i said before , is its size relative to the economy .  the fact remains the national debt today is significantly lower , relative to the economy , than it was in the early 1990s when their party controlled congress and controlled the reins of spending .  we have heard about record deficits , but here again we propose in our budget resolution to cut the deficits in half relative to the size of the economy .  that will send the right message to global markets .  we have heard a little bit tonight about the trade deficit , and i must say that is something where i have some sympathy with the critics .  our trade deficit is much too high , but those who are making these claims tonight perhaps should be questioning whether they supported the clinton-era trade policies that this administration inherited and put us firmly on the path to large trade deficits .  we have also heard from the other side that they are concerned that there is not enough room in this budget to deal with the problem of the amt .  as cochairman of the zero amt caucus , i have to be sympathetic with their raising the issue , but the fact remains eliminating the amt is only going to be possible as part of fundamental tax reform .  this budget put lays in place , creates the groundwork for us to go forward later this year and take a look at fundamental tax reform .  we also , notwithstanding this budget , have every opportunity to move forward later this year and consider the issue of social security solvency .  i believe that the president is right to raise this issue .  anyone who has studied this issue carefully has to concede that for the long-term health of the social security system we have a choice of either going forward with a laissez-faire approach that has long been advocated on the other side and ultimately have to see truly draconian cuts as a result , or if we act now we can put in place reforms that will allow us to preserve existing benefits , also provide a solid retirement for the next generation and do so by improving the rate of return within the social security system .  nothing in this budget resolution is inconsistent with that initiative .  i am very , very pleased to address the concerns raised by the gentleman from new york about the supposed monolithic government in the congress that has worked with a republican administration to do some things that the gentleman finds distasteful .  the fact is our economic policies and our economic challenges today are at least partially the result of the gridlock that existed before the last election in which the senate was at least not able to move forward on key issues like a stimulus bill , like an energy bill , like tort reform , that directly speak to our economic health because of the gridlock implicit in the rules that gave the minority a veto over many of these provisions .  monolithic government is not the issue .  the issue here is whether we can move forward and get to a balanced budget ultimately .  our resolution clearly is the one strongest able to do that .  we continue to grow the economy without raising taxes , which clearly is the agenda on the other side , raising taxes that would slam the brakes on economic growth .  at the same time , it is obvious from the laundry list we have heard tonight if the other side were in the majority we would be contemplating a saturnalia of new spending .  i can think of a lot of things that i would love to spend money on in the federal budget , but the fact remains we need to set tough priorities if we are going to get back to a balanced budget .  our spending resolution does just that .  what we provide is low taxes , controlling federal spending and ultimately the prospect of falling deficits and low debt and ultimately the right economic direction for this country , a true blueprint for economic growth , expansion and opportunity .  with that , i urge all of my colleagues to support the republican budget resolution .  regardless of any concern about any particular program , we need to move forward with the broad outline of spending that this resolution fairly lays out and put it in place so that we are able to get to a balanced budget over time as we reassure capital markets that we are truly committed to controlling spending without raising taxes .  