[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H3810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE REPUBLICANS ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH REAL PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY

  (Ms. VELAZQUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans are desperately out of 
touch with real people in this country. First, they try to hold up 
disaster relief to flood victims. Then they say that people trying to 
move from welfare to work are not entitled to the minimum wage or basic 
workplace protections.
  Now the Republicans are trying to push through a tax bill that gives 
huge tax breaks to millionaires and provides almost no relief to the 
people who need it the most, middle-income and working families. The 
bulk of their tax cut will go to those families making over $237,000 a 
year. That is wrong.
  What message are the Republicans sending to hardworking Americans? 
They want to give a $10,000 tax deduction to upper-income families who 
can already afford to send their kids to college. Yet they propose a 
$500-per-child tax credit that penalizes working mothers with children 
in child care.
  Mr. Speaker, right now parents are forced to take two and three jobs 
just to feed their families. These are the people who need tax relief. 
Instead, the Republicans have loaded this tax bill down with gifts to 
their wealthy friends. It is wrong, Mr. Speaker. It is wrong, and we 
will not allow it.

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