[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 4, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DEMOCRATS DESPERATELY DEMAGOG

  (Mr. RIGGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker, one more time, let us see if we can get this 
right. The tax break inserted in the bill was at the request of a 
Democratic Member of the other body.
  Listening to my colleagues this morning on the other side of the 
aisle reminds me of a saying I once heard, desperate people will 
demagog anything.
  You see the Democrats would like us to believe that our tax relief 
bill is taking money from the poor to give it to the rich. Let me ask 
my Democratic colleagues, do you think all senior citizens are rich? 
You must think so because that is one group of people who definitely 
benefit from our bill. We are repealing the unfair tax increase that 
you imposed on the backs of senior citizens in August 1993.
  You surely remember that. This is the tax increase that considers all 
seniors receiving Social Security benefits and making $34,000 or more a 
year wealthy. We are also lifting the Social Security earnings 
limitation so that seniors who want to work outside the home past the 
age of 65 are not unfairly penalized if they earn over $11,000 a year.
  Mr. Speaker, it is wrong to raise taxes on middle income seniors who 
live on fixed incomes and it is wrong to target working seniors.
  I ask my Democratic colleagues to help us in passing the tax relief 
bill.


                          ____________________