[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 166 (Wednesday, October 25, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H10750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page H10750]]


                         THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

  (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 months now, I've had a hard time 
understanding how the Republican Members of this House could push a 
budget that demands huge sacrifices from the many, to lavish huge tax 
cuts on the few.
  I've had a hard time understanding how the Republicans could double 
Medicare premiums and carve up middle class incomes like a Halloween 
pumpkin--all to give about $20,000 a year to people who earn half-a-
million dollars a year.
  Above all, I've had a hard time understanding how any Member of this 
House could so brazenly and shamelessly turn their backs on the middle 
class to dole out new perks and privileges for the wealthy.
  But now, I'm beginning to understand where all this injustice comes 
from. My Republican colleague, Frederick Heineman of North Carolina, 
has given us a unique window onto the Republican world view--and why 
it's so weighted toward wealth and privilege.
  According to Congressman Heineman, his own salary--more than $180,000 
a year, and I quote, ``does not make me rich. That does not make me 
middle class. In my opinion that makes me lower middle class.'' Never 
mind that he earns more money than 97 percent of all Americans.

  Congressman Heineman then builds on this delusional world view, to 
tell us that someone earning $750,000 a year is simply middle class. 
Never mind that they earn more than 99 percent of all Americans.
  I suppose in Congressman Heineman's fiscal fantasy land, slashing 
Medicare, cutting student loans, and kicking the elderly out of nursing 
homes--all to pay for tax cuts for people earning hundreds of thousands 
of dollars per year--is a true blue middle class agenda.
  But if you live in the real world, it's just plain wrong. The 
Republicans just don't get it. If they would step out and talk to hard-
working, struggling families every once in a while, they'd understand 
why their views are so radical and extreme.
  And then maybe they'd learn that for the vast majority of Americans, 
the Republican budget is more than unfair--it's more than a bunch of 
silly mistakes and assumptions--it's an absolute outrage. And in the 
name of common decency, it deserves to be denounced and defeated.

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