[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 96 (Wednesday, July 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H4921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST?

  (Mr. STRICKLAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, in all due respect to the previous 
speaker, only people who work qualify for the earned income tax credit. 
This is not money going to people who do not work. If they do not work, 
they do not qualify.
  Sadly, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem to embrace a 
survival of the fittest mentality. If people are wealthy, if they are 
healthy, they are deemed to be good and worthy. If they are old or sick 
or poor, somehow they do not deserve a part of the American dream. They 
do not deserve a tax break.
  We are going to get a tax bill, but I hope the American people are 
watching us, because this tax bill must be a fair bill. Under the 
Republican bill, if a family has four children and makes $18,000 a 
year, they will get nothing, nothing under the child tax credit 
provision. But if a similar family makes $80,000 a year, they will get 
$2,000. Nothing for the poor family; $2,000 for the well-to-do family.
  The Republican bill takes care of the well-to-do. We have got a 
responsibility to stand up for America's working families.

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