[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 96 (Wednesday, July 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          A TALE OF TWO WOMEN

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous 
material.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with my colleagues a 
letter I received from a constituent of mine from Sparks, NV. This 
letter tells a story of two women. The first, and author of this 
letter, works 60 hours or more a week in hopes of saving enough money 
to get married and have children. The second woman, her cousin, has 
three children and has been receiving welfare for 13 years. The closing 
paragraph of her letter sums up the state of things better than I have 
ever heard. She writes, ``Yes, the liberals take good care of people 
like my cousin who were smarter than I by deciding to have children, 
not get married and not go to work so that the Federal Government would 
take care of her and her children. I was the stupid one, who worked 
hard and waited to get married before having children. Now my taxes and 
hard work help pay for my cousin to enjoy her life.''
  The Republican tax reduction will help restore common sense and 
accountability to the process and lift the burden off the shoulders of 
the hard-working, tax-paying men and women of America.

                                                     July 1, 1997.
     Congressman Jim Gibbons,
     Reno, NV.
       Dear Congressman Gibbons: I thought you might enjoy reading 
     about how Clinton and the liberals have proved they are pro 
     family.
       This is a tale of two women.
       One is 37 years old and has worked since she was 14 years 
     old busing tables at a Holiday Inn. The other woman is 30 and 
     has never had a regular job in her life but she has received 
     welfare assistance since she was 17.
       The 37 year old recently got married for the first time, 
     became a first time home buyer and has no children. The 30 
     year old has never been married, lives with her current 
     boyfriend and has three children.
       The 37 year old owns a car that is 10 years old and only 
     seats two people. Her husband has a 9 year old pick up truck 
     which also only seats two. They would like to purchase a 
     moderately priced used four door car to carry children that 
     they plan to have. The 30 year old recently bought a new 
     Toyota Camry.
       The 37 year old and her husband now pay more taxes since 
     they got married and the 30 year old pays no taxes.
       When the 30 year old and her husband have children they 
     will not qualify for the proposed $500 tax credit per child 
     because they make a little more than $75,000 per year on a 
     combined income and are considered rich. The 30 year old will 
     receive a $500 per child tax credit even though she does not 
     pay taxes.
       The 37 year old recently took a second job at $6.75/hour 
     and her husband works as much overtime as he can to help pay 
     off debt associated with buying the new house so she can 
     afford a new car and have children. The 37 year old woman 
     works 60+ hours a week and sees her husband 1 day a week and 
     in passing during the rest of the week. The 30 year old has 
     lots of free time, as her mother and sisters take turns baby-
     sitting the three children, while she goes out with her 
     friends and spends time with her boyfriend.
       When the 30 year old loses her welfare, she plans to take a 
     job but her child care will be paid for by the government. 
     The 37 year old will have to quit her job to take care of 
     children, when she has them, because child care will eat up 
     most of her salary so she has decided it would be better to 
     stay home.
       The 37 year old is myself and the 30 year old is my cousin 
     who had her first child at 17 because her older sister had a 
     child and received more attention.
       I make $28,500 per year as a marketing coordinator for an 
     engineering firm. I have worked hard all my adult life and 
     put myself through college. My husband's base salary is about 
     $36,000 per year as a postal worker (for 16 years) but he 
     works a lot of overtime and averages about $47,000 per year. 
     We bring home about $48,000 per year. We both have some money 
     withheld for retirement. When we did our taxes last year we 
     discovered that we are considered to be wealthy (because of 
     our combined incomes) and should therefore pay more taxes.
       We were penalized for working hard and getting married.
       Now we find that we cannot afford to have children. If we 
     have children, I will probably have to quit my job to take 
     care of them because day care would cost about $7,800 per 
     year for one child and I don't have relatives nearby who 
     could care for them and I don't qualify for assistance by the 
     federal government to help pay for day care.
       But I guess quitting my job would be okay because I would 
     then qualify for the $500 per child tax credit because our 
     family income would be under $75,000 per year. Of course we 
     wouldn't have a car that we would all fit in. But at least 
     the child would be safe in the front seat of both vehicles 
     since they don't have air bags.
       My husband would have to give up his 401K because we would 
     need that extra income too. But that would be okay since we 
     will now have the federal government to take care of us when 
     we get old.
       So now, we will be penalized for having children.
       Yes, Clinton and his liberals take good care of people like 
     my cousin who was smarter than I by deciding to have 
     children, not get married and not work so the federal 
     government would take care of her and her children.
       I was the stupid one, who worked hard and waited to get 
     married before having children.
       Now my taxes and hard work help pay for my cousin to enjoy 
     her life.
       Yes, Clinton is pro family.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Shelley Read,
     Sparks, Nevada.

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