Statement on Action by the Senate on a Fiscal Year 1982 Budget Resolution

The people of this country won another great victory tonight when Members of the Senate passed the 1982 budget resolution. With the Senate vote, we are closer to achieving our goal of fiscal responsibility and a government that lives within its means.

Senator Pete Domenici, chairman of the Budget Committee that so promptly reported the resolution to the floor, put it well when he said that, in the past, we have been spending the blessings of America while forgetting where the blessings came from. Tonight, we are putting that kind of habit behind us, thanks to his able leadership and that of Majority Leader Howard Baker.

Just as Members of the House of Representatives did a few days ago, Senators of both parties worked together to shape and pass this resolution. This was an example of bipartisan cooperation and representative democracy at its best.

On behalf of all Americans, I thank the Senators who heard the voice of the people and found the courage to commit themselves seriously to budgetary restraint, tax rate reduction, and renewed national prosperity.