[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 96 (Wednesday, July 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H4920]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ANY EXCUSE IS A GOOD EXCUSE

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, any excuse is a good excuse if someone does 
not want to do something. The liberals do not want to vote for tax 
relief, so any excuse will do. The most frequent excuse is that tax 
relief will only go to the rich.
  In today's Washington Post in the James K. Glassman column it says 
the Democratic Policy Committee recently sent an outraged fax to radio 
talk show hosts around the country. Under the current GOP proposal, 
this is a quote, ``The top 1 percent of Americans would receive more 
benefits than the combined bottom 60 percent in tax cuts.''
  The IRS reports that the top 1 percent of Americans paid 29 percent 
of the Nation's income tax bill, and the bottom 60 percent paid just 9 
percent. So to be fair, the top 1 percent should get triple the cuts as 
the bottom 60 percent.
  But that is not the plan. The plan is targeted tax relief for the 
middle class. That is what we passed in this House.
  But any excuse is a good excuse if someone does not want to vote for 
tax relief.

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