[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 126 (Friday, September 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10537-S10538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          OUR AMERICAN AGENDA

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, my freshman colleagues and I have come to 
the floor this morning to share our thoughts about the future. It is a 
vision for tomorrow not bound in political partisanship, because ours 
is not a Republican agenda, but an American agenda: A message every 
citizen can embrace, whether they are just starting out on the job, a 
new parent, an executive working their way up the ladder, a long time 
employee in a union shop, a student, a senior citizen. Anybody who is 
searching for something better, and the freedom to achieve it, is 
welcome.
  And our message for the future can be spelled out in just six words: 
Lower taxes, less Government, more jobs.
  The vision those six words embodies contrasts sharply with the 
reality that has been imposed on the American people by their own 
Government.
  Instead of making real achievements on behalf of America's families, 
the last Congress, the 103d, was most noted for enacting the largest 
tax increase in American history. The $265 billion in new taxes it 
demanded from the middle class could not have been further from what 
the taxpayers wanted or deserved.
  This Congress heard their calls and we have pointed Washington in a 
new direction by seeking dramatically lower taxes for working 
Americans.

[[Page S10538]]

  We heard the people when they told us that they, not some tax 
collector or career bureaucrat in Washington, know what is best for 
their families and how to spend their money which they worked so hard 
for.
  The Government has never raised a child--it does not pay the dental 
bills when the kids need braces, or buy the groceries for the dinner 
table, or write the checks for the college tuition.
  Parents make those decisions, and with more of their own money in 
their wallets, parents will be empowered to raise their children as 
only parents can.
  Unlike the preceding Congress, which built its reputation by 
attempting to expand the reach of Government into our lives, the 104th 
Congress has made middle-class tax relief the centerpiece of our 
American agenda of returning power to the people.
  And we have pledged to continue our efforts--to strengthen our 
efforts--in the 105th.
  We offered middle-class families the $500 per-child tax credit.
  Under the blueprint for economic renewal proposed by our former 
colleague, Bob Dole, the child tax credit would return more than $1,800 
to the average Minnesota family of four. With a Republican President in 
the Oval Office, we will enact the $500 per-child tax credit into law.
  Congress cut the capital gains tax, too, to protect small investors, 
seniors, farmers, and families from having their savings and 
investments unfairly penalized.
  With a Republican President, our reduction in the capital gains tax 
will become law as well, and so will tax credits for families caring 
for elderly relatives and an end to the marriage penalty in our IRS Tax 
Code.
  Here is the bottom line, Mr. President: By enacting each of these 
ideas today, we have the power to inspire dramatic change for 
tomorrow's families. Cutting taxes puts money back into the community 
and directly into the hands of working Americans, where it belongs in 
the first place, and where it ought to stay.
  It stands to reason that once we train the Federal Government to run 
itself more efficiently, it will need fewer tax dollars to accomplish 
the people's work.
  The public's desire for less interference from Washington, therefore, 
translates into a smaller, more efficient government, reduced 
bureaucracy, and, ultimately, less waste of the Nation's precious 
financial resources.
  When we achieve that, we can begin fulfilling what I consider to be 
our most solemn obligation: erasing our deficit and finally eliminating 
our cancerous national debt. The future we envision for our children 
and grandchildren is one free of debt imposed by this generation. No 
generation before in this country has left the next generation a debt. 
This generation will be the first to do that, and we should take every 
step possible to make sure we eradicate that responsibility.

  With our eye on that promise, Congress has made great progress, 
cutting spending by more than $50 billion over these past two years, 
eliminating more than 270 wasteful programs, and privatizing four major 
governmental agencies.
  Most importantly, our budgets balance--a sure sign of our commitment 
to ushering in a new era of fiscal responsibility.
  Still, Americans say we can do better, and my colleagues and I agree. 
We must do better.
  But I am not sure the people understand that if we are going to fully 
carry out their agenda, it will likely take a different President to 
lead us there.
  Our third goal for the future--more and better jobs--will follow once 
we have energized the economy by freeing America's families and job 
providers from the burden of high taxes and once we have reduced the 
mountains of regulations and overhauled the Tax Code to forever end the 
IRS as we know it.
  Without a Federal bureaucracy blocking the path to success, wage 
earners and investors will find the freedom to do what a free-market 
economy encourages them to do: spend their own dollars, stimulate 
growth, and create new, better-paying jobs.
  When my colleagues and I think to the future, we envision a hopeful, 
vibrant place. It is an America where any citizen who wants to achieve 
prosperity for themselves and their families--whatever their background 
and however they define that prosperity--is given the opportunity to 
succeed.
  It is an America where government enables their success, and does not 
stand in its way. Mr. President, I am proud of the progress we have 
made in this Congress toward opening those doors, toward fulfilling the 
American agenda of lower taxes, less government, and more jobs.
  I can say with certainty that our work is not finished. But I say 
with equal certainty that we have not wavered in our commitment to 
seeing it through. We will make every attempt as we enter the 105th 
Congress to finish the job we have started in the 104th.

  I thank the Chair. I see there is no other Senator in the Chamber so 
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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