[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 200 (Friday, December 15, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H14934-H14935]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    STOP GROWING THE FEDERAL BUDGET

  (Mr. GRAHAM asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. Speaker, what the Republicans have done is to do what 
Mrs. Clinton asked us to do. She testified 2 years ago that if we slow 
the growth of Medicare down to 6, to 7, percent, we can take care of 
Medicare and balance the budget. We spend 7.2 percent on Medicare. It 
goes up 62 percent over the next 7 years.
  Tax cuts. Our budget has $245 billion in tax cuts for the American 
family and American business. The Democratic party criticizes us for 
having a tax cut for the American family. I ask, ``If we gave you the 
money, what would you do with it? Would you put it on the deficit? No, 
you would spend it on the Federal budget, you would shrink the family 
budget.''
  That is not talk, that is fact, because in President Clinton's budget 
he reduced our tax package from 245 to 78, he took the money, and he 
put it on the Federal Government. He shrunk the family budget.
  Stop shrinking the family budget, stop growing the Federal budget. 
The American public would love to have it on the deficit. They are not 
going to put it on the deficit. They are going to spend it up here. 
Spending needs to stop.

[[Page H14935]]


                    WE NEED TO HELP ORDINARY PEOPLE

  (Mr. STUPAK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STUPAK. The GOP balanced budget plan, as the last speaker says, 
give $245 billion in tax breaks. Those tax breaks go to the wealthiest 
1 percent of this country, and they repeal the alternative minimum 
corporate tax. Corporations do not have to pay taxes under their plan.
  I would like my colleagues to listen to what my constituents say. I 
got a letter from a constituent from Charlevoix, MI, that says:

       My wife is a bookkeeper at Charlevoix Hospital. I run a 
     very small business in town. My wife will get a small pension 
     from the hospital plus Social Security when she retires. I 
     will only get Social Security. I have had 2 heart attacks, 
     and I am a noninsulin diabetic. My wife, although working, 
     does so while in much pain with a back ailment. With all we 
     have to worry about in this present day, why do we have to be 
     faced with a large group in the Congress that apparently is 
     bent on making us suffer even more in our old age? People 
     need help, not corporations. The wealthiest do not need tax 
     breaks. We need to help ordinary people the, middle class. 
     Balance the budget, yes, but not on the backs of the middle 
     class.

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