[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                            NOT WITH MY VOTE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Olver] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OLVER. Madam Speaker, in just a couple of weeks we are going to 
start debate on one of the cornerstones of the Republican Contract on 
America. That cornerstone, the tax cut of $200 billion over 5 years.
  Never mind that the deficit is already $200 billion per year, put 
aside that the tax cuts add to the deficit, never mind that these tax 
cuts make balancing the budget harder, and never mind that not a 
responsible economist agrees that cutting taxes is the right way to 
start on reducing the deficit and balancing the budget.
  But putting those things aside, let us examine the proposal. First of 
all, on this chart we can see who gets the tax benefits from the tax 
reductions being proposed. If you would look at the first 2 columns 
down on the left-hand side, less than 20 percent of the tax reduction 
is given to some 71 million American families that are almost two-
thirds of all the American families.
  In the upper side there you find 50 percent of the tax reductions to 
less than 10 percent of the families, whose income is now over $100,000 
per year.
  Well, if that graph is a little difficult to grasp quickly, look at 
the second one. Under this graph, in the same categories of income what 
this shows is that the Republican tax cut will provide $5,000 to the 
average family, who presently make more than $200,000 per year. That 
would be $12 billion of tax cuts each year.
  Down at the other end of the scale there are 49 million families 
that, together, get $57 on average per family per year. That is about 
$1 per week per family.
  Now, the Republicans claim that they are not going to make the 
deficit larger. So, we will be debating the $17 billion rescission bill 
next week. Under Newt Gingrich's Contract on America, spending cuts 
which hurt children and elders and make it harder for youth and 
teenagers to get the education and skills and
 training so that they can get jobs, those spending cuts will be used 
to give tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans.

  In Newt Gingrich's America, Republicans are going to cut infant 
mortality prevention, prenatal, children's foster care, safe and drug-
free schools for children and education for disadvantaged children and 
domestic violence prevention and shelters for homeless families. But 
they will do it without my vote.
  In Newt Gingrich's America, these Republicans will cut vocational and 
technological education and Americorps, the National community service 
corps, school drop-out prevention, and college scholarships, summer 
jobs for teenagers who are at risk of dropping out of school, and 
school-to-work job training. But, again, they will do that without my 
vote.
  In Newt Gingrich's America, the Republican extremists will cut rental 
assistance to low-income families and public housing maintenance and 
safety and home heating assistance for 6 million families, every one of 
whom, every one of whom falls in that category of people with incomes 
under $30,000 a year. But, again, they will do it without my vote.
  In Newt Gingrich's America, at least $12 billion in tax cuts are 
going to be transferred, $12 billion of wealth, will be transferred 
from people down in this area who now have under $30,000 of income per 
year, and it will be transferred into tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 
percent of Americans, giving them $5,000 a year, on average, in tax 
cuts.
  At least $12 billion in services, in the services that I have 
mentioned, will be cut from these 48 million families down there at the 
lower end of the scale, who have under $30,000 of income per year. That 
is over $250, on average, per family that is going to be cut.
  Madam Speaker, if people who are watching have not already guessed 
it, and probably many of them have, every Member of Congress, every 
Senator, every Member of the House falls in the upper categories on 
this graph, and not one Member of Congress will lose a penny of the $12 
billion taken away from those 48 million families whose income is below 
$30,000 per year.

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