[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    A TAX CREDIT AND BALANCED BUDGET

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 17, 1995

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member highly commends to his 
colleagues the following two editorials which appeared in the Omaha 
World-Herald on November 16, 1995, and November 17, 1995.

              [From the Omaha World-Herald, Nov. 16, 1995]

      House-Senate Tax Credit Pact Has Good News for Middle Class

       Republicans in the House and Senate have worked out of 
     sensible compromise on the GOP's proposal for a family tax 
     credit.
       The compromise would permit families to reduce their 
     federal income-tax payment by $500 for each child under age 
     18, sources said. The credits would be available for single 
     parents with an annual income up to $75,000 and for two-
     parent families who earn up to $110,000 a year.
       An earlier version passed by the House set the income-limit 
     at $200,000. The income has been capped at a lower level to 
     make the tax cut more palatable to moderate Republicans. 
     Democrats had made it sound as if the majority of families 
     with children were rich.
       That, of course, is nonsense. The government already spends 
     billions on welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing and 
     income supplements for children in low-income families. But 
     just above them are middle-class families in which one or two 
     working partners earn a total of $30,000, $40,000, or 
     $50,000, paying taxes, having Social Security contributions 
     withheld and carrying the added responsibility of securing 
     good child care.
       Federal tax policy has for years been tinkered with to 
     improve people's lives. But the benefits have not gone to 
     households that looked like a traditional family. Married 
     couples where the wife was not in the labor force saw their 
     median income, in constant dollars, plateau at about $30,000 
     from 1967 to 1992. Meanwhile, couples where both partners 
     worked for pay enjoyed a rise in median income from $38,500 
     in 1967 to $50,000 in 1992.
       The value of the personal exemption, one of the main tax 
     benefits for families with children, has declined. Sponsors 
     of the 1995 Republican tax credit say the credit is designed 
     to restore fairness.
       Other provisions of the compromise tax package would reduce 
     taxes on capital gains. Farmers and small-business owners 
     would be able to pass more of their holdings to their heirs. 
     The ``marriage penalty,'' a tax quirk that discriminates 
     against married couples, would be made less onerous.
       The compromise version of the child tax credit was based on 
     a plan approved by the Senate in which families with children 
     would receive about 60 percent of the $245 billion total over 
     the next seven years. Senate sponsors said this includes 29 
     million families with about three-fourths of the nation's 69 
     million children.
       For the Democrats to portray this as a tax cut for the rich 
     is to use the irresponsible rhetoric that increasingly makes 
     their party's positions appear irrelevant.

              [From the Omaha World-Herald, Nov. 17, 1995]

                 Democrats Ignore Kerrey's Wise Advice

       Congressional Democrats and President Clinton should have 
     taken to heart the advice that a member of their party, Sen. 
     Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, offered recently.
       In the midst of rhetoric over emergency spending and 
     borrowing legislation, a statement made Tuesday by Kerrey 
     stood out: ``Democrats need to accept the idea that we are 
     going to balance the budget in seven years. Republicans have 
     the majority, and they have won that argument.''
       Kerrey told an audience of moderate Democrats Monday that 
     their party needs to lead by proving that it can make 
     difficult decisions on spending and taxes. He said the 
     party's leaders need to accept spending cuts, restructure 
     government and decentralize government power.
       As the world watches in amazement while a great country 
     embarrasses itself, Clinton has dug in his heels and, as of 
     late yesterday, was refusing to accept the GOP goal of 
     balancing the budget in seven years. As Sen. Charles Grassley 
     of Iowa put it, ``everything else'' in the Republicans' 
     budget plan was negotiable. But the seven-year goal for 
     reducing the deficit to zero is now the reason for Clinton's 
     refusal to sign a temporary extension of the debt ceiling and 
     spending authority.
       Kerrey is chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign 
     Committee. He has a major role in next year's elections. 
     Digging in left of center and shouting about Republicans 
     ``destroying'' Medicare and showering ``the rich'' with 
     windfall tax breaks at the expense of the elderly and working 
     class has been the strategy for some party leaders.
       That tactic is working, regrettably, in part because the 
     baseless charges are seldom held up to examination by news 
     organizations.
       Kerrey has proposed a more honest approach--one that could 
     make the 1996 campaign a genuine referendum on how far the 
     government should go in the way of reform and how fast. 
     Unfortunately, the president and other leading Democrats 
     still are defying the Republican budget plan and behaving 
     with a stubbornness which they hope will pull their poll 
     numbers higher.

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