[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H11053]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

  (Mr. HERGER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, last week President Clinton's Interior 
Secretary, Bruce Babbitt, endorsed a plan to tax anything having to do 
with the great outdoors. The plan he endorsed called for a 5-percent 
tax on everything from binoculars to canteens to sleeping bags to 
birdseed.
  Birdseed, Mr. Speaker? What is next? The air we breathe? It is true 
that Bill Clinton, the great conservative Republican that he is, has 
backed away from the plan, but is this just a glimpse of the future if 
Bill Clinton were to stay in power? Higher taxes, bigger government and 
more regulation. Mr. Speaker, they say it is hard for a leopard to 
change its spots. It is also hard for liberals to change their tax-and-
spend tendencies, as Interior Secretary Babbitt has so eloquently 
proved.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that if the Clinton administration wins 
reelection, tax and spend will be back again. Welcome to the future, 
Mr. and Mrs. America.

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