[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 45 (Friday, March 10, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 A VICTORY PARTY FOR THE PRIVILEGED FEW

  (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, for weeks now, Americans have watched in 
astonishment as House Republicans have voted to ravage our most basic 
commitments to hard-working families: School lunch for children who 
would literally go hungry without it; heating assistance for frail 
elderly who would literally freeze to death without it; a program of 
food and nutrition for pregnant women that saves more than three times 
what it costs.
  Yesterday, the Republican leadership added outrage to injury, by 
rolling out the reason behind these budget-shredding atrocities: A 
capital gains tax cut that is a boon for the privileged, but a bust for 
working people.
  The most affluent Americans do not need a tax cut. That is why 
Democrats are fighting to give a tax break to the middle-class families 
who have seen their standard of living slide for the past 16 years.
  According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the 
Republican tax cut would give $8,000 to those earning more than 
$200,000 a year--but only a meager $92 to those earning $30,000 a year.
  That would be bad public policy on any day, in any debate. But 
because it is funded by taking food from the mouths of children and 
heat from the homes of senior citizens, this tax giveaway is an affront 
to fundamental fairness and decency.
  Mr. Speaker, if there was ever any doubt, there is no doubt today: 
Elections have consequences. And with this latest assault on working 
America, the Republican Party is sending a powerful message: For the 
privileged few, the real party is just about to begin.


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