[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 18, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H3868]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CONFUSION ABOUT GIVING AND TAKING

  (Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a lot of 
confusion on the other side of the aisle about who is giving and who is 
taking. I am talking, of course, about those of my colleagues who 
believe this liberal baloney about giving, giving the people that which 
already belongs to them.
  Not a day passes in Washington without the left wing of Congress 
mindlessly repeating something that I hold to be blatantly false, that 
the politicians are giving anybody a tax break. Only in Washington do 
people define taking a little less to somehow be giving.
  Now, the wealthy, who give the most, sometimes hundreds of times more 
than anybody else, are not taking from anyone. Yes, Mr. Speaker, that 
is the key to the liberals' failure to understand this issue. Every 
time Tiger Woods wins another tournament or Bill Gates brings about 
another software innovation to the marketplace, or a farmer in Colorado 
buys another section, no one is worse off by their achievements.
  Government takes from them, not the other way around. The term ``tax 
cuts for the rich'' is just another liberal euphemism for their genuine 
belief that the fruits of their labor does not really belong to them, 
and that these politicians in Washington should have greater claim to 
it than they do.




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