[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 206 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15491-H15492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              REAL BUDGET IMPASSE IS TAX CUT FOR THE RICH

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, the real budget impasse is a $270 
billion tax cut for the rich. Newt Gingrich calls it the crown jewel. 
That is where the budget impasse exists. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I am 
glad to be part of the reform-minded Democratic freshmen who believe we 
can balance the budget without taking away from our children, or making 
devastating cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, and the environment. This is 
where we are today.
  And Mr. Speaker, we have another problem with the welfare bill to be 
proposed on the floor of the House today. This is an unfriendly 
Congress when it comes to children. There are no work programs in this 
proposed Republican welfare plan for the parents of these children. 
This legislation does not want the welfare recipients to be 
independent. The Republicans have cut the work programs out. We take 
away $14 billion from Medicaid so that women and children cannot get 
good health care that are on welfare, and then those children who are 
disabled, the severely disabled children, 320,000 of them, this welfare 
bill tells them that we do not care about you by cutting their needed 
SSI benefits.

[[Page H15492]]

  Unfriendly, childless, careless, that is what the Republicans are 
doing with the budget impasse; $270 billion in tax cuts for the rich, 
and then a welfare bill that misrepresents to the American people that 
the Republicans want real welfare reform. No; this legislation will not 
correct the welfare crises. This Republican legislation takes the 
safety net away from innocent children.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time to stand up for the children.

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