[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 172 (Thursday, November 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H11736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE DEMOCRATS: AFRAID THE PARTY IS OVER?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Scarborough] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, earlier this morning I was amused by 
what I heard from many of the Members on the Democratic side coming up 
and talking about how off base the new Republican majority was in 
planning to balance the budget and cut taxes. We heard one Member come 
up and say it was going to be the end of the Republican party; that 
they were going to pay, because they were absolutely outraged at these 
tax cuts that we were forcing on the American people.
  Another Member came up and said that he was proud of what they did in 
1993, that they helped bring down the debt, and that the Republicans 
were being mean-spirited because these tax cuts would hurt senior 
citizens, these tax cuts would hurt middle-class Americans, these tax 
cuts would hurt everybody: dogs, cats, you name it. The Democrats think 
if you cut taxes, it is going to hurt all of America.
  The facts are these: Americans are taxed more today than they have 
ever been. Those Members that came up, proud of what they did in 1993 
and not liking what we are doing today, forgot to mention one thing. In 
1993, the Democratic Party, without the help of one Republican vote, 
passed the largest tax increase in the history of America. What did 
that tax increase do to those senior citizens who they now claim to 
want to protect? It raised taxes on senior citizens. In fact, it stole 
money from senior citizens and their Social Security funds by raising 
the tax rate to 85 percent.

  If that was not enough, if their assault on Social Security was not 
enough in the 1993 tax increase, they decided to make sure that seniors 
would be punished for being productive. So what did they do? They 
lowered the earnings level from $34,000 to $14,000. Heaven forbid that 
our senior citizens dare to make a positive impact on our economy after 
they retire and get on Social Security.
  I tell you, they talk about wanting to help the working class, and 
then they criticize tax breaks that are going to help the working 
class. Somehow they have not gotten past the old, worn-out 1960's 
radical notion that you can love jobs and you can love job creation, 
but you have to hate the person that creates the jobs. It makes 
absolutely no sense.
  I guess all these Democrats coming out and kicking and screaming, 
saying no, please, please, save the American people from tax cuts; 
explain why on the cover of U.S. News and World Report this week there 
is a story that says ``The Democrats: Is the Party Over? They know they 
are in trouble, and it is even worse than they think.''
  I would suggest that one of the reasons that the party is over for 
the liberal Democratic Party in America is because they have 
consistently been enemies of working-class Americans. They have 
consistently voted for higher and higher taxes. Any Democrat you hear 
speaking today on the budget most likely voted in 1993 for the largest 
tax increase in the history of America.
  Despite what they say about wanting to protect senior citizens' wages 
and wanting to protect Medicare and wanting to protect Social Security, 
facts are a hard thing to shake. The fact is, it was the Democratic 
Party that voted to raise taxes on senior citizens and on Social 
Security recipients. How they can come up 2 years later with a short 
memory and criticize the Republican Party in the most just absolutely 
extreme terms imaginable is beyond me. They call us Nazis because we 
want to preserve and protect Medicare.

  My gosh, the spokesman for the President of the United States said we 
wanted Medicare to die and probably wanted senior citizens to die, 
also. This is not the talk of a rational party, this is the talk of 
people who know that the curtain is coming down on 40 years of the most 
radical governing concepts that have ever invaded Washington, DC. We 
are moving beyond that, we are daring to make a difference, we are 
daring to empower American taxpayers and the middle class again. That 
is what we do. Hopefully the Democrats will come on board.

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