[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     MR. PRESIDENT, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUT?

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, every now and then, I like to thumb through 
my copy of ``Putting People First'' then-candidate Bill Clinton's book 
of promises to the American people. And I couldn't help but notice when 
I last picked it up that the centerpiece of the Clinton campaign was a 
middle-class tax cut.
  Let me read a little bit from the section entitled ``Rewarding Work 
and Families'' middle-class taxpayers will have a choice between a 
children's tax credit or a significant reduction in their income tax 
rate.'' That was candidate Clinton speaking.
  Well, candidate Clinton became President Clinton and that one-time 
champion of the middle-class soon began singing an altogether different 
tune. This Congress passed a middle-class tax cut; 89 percent of that 
tax cut would go to families earning under $75,000 per year. President 
Clinton said no and vetoed it. He called it a tax cut for the rich.
  Mr. Speaker, as President Clinton gears up to become candidate 
Clinton again, I think the American people might want to join me in 
asking him. ``Mr. President, whatever happened to that middle-class tax 
cut?''

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