[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 98 (Friday, July 11, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5170-H5171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE AGENDA OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Saxton] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I took out this 5-minute special order to 
hopefully bring some perspective to some of the things that were said 
here in the House this week.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been said over and over again that the agenda for 
the majority party, at least, in the House over the past several weeks 
has been threefold; one, to move toward a balanced budget; two, to 
reduce the tax burden on the American people; and three, to save 
Medicare.
  I would like to talk about the first two of those three issues for 
just a couple of minutes, as I said, to try to bring some perspective 
to this week's debate. I recently read an article that was written, an 
op ed piece, by an individual that I know who is quite famous in the 
economic world. His name is Milton Friedman. He is a fellow at the 
Hoover Institute. He wrote about the economy of this country and, 
because of what has happened, is in the process of happening in Hong 
Kong, compared our economy with the economy and the historical 
perspective of Hong Kong.
  He noted in his article that the economy of the United States on a 
per capita basis used to be seven times larger than the economy of Hong 
Kong. In other words, for every man, woman, and child in this country, 
we had seven times more economic power than an individual in Hong Kong.
  Over the years since as we have moved through history the two 
countries have actually come much closer together, because today on a 
per capita basis we are no longer seven times bigger than the Hong Kong 
economy. As a matter of fact, we are almost the same; a difference of 
just 7 percent. In other words, our total economy on a per capita basis 
is just 7 percent larger than Hong Kong's. In other words, we have come 
from a situation like this to a situation on a per capita basis where 
we are almost the same.

[[Page H5171]]

  The majority party here recognizes that the kind of growth that we 
would like to see economically is, in a sense, demonstrated by Milton 
Friedman's remarks in his article, because we would like to see our 
economy continue to grow, and for individuals to prosper as they once 
did. That is exactly why we think it is very important to balance the 
budget and to reduce taxes.
  Mr. Speaker, a lot was said around here this week about reducing 
taxes. We believe that it should be done in an extremely fair way. That 
is why, as this chart to my left shows, 76 percent of the tax relief 
that the Republican party has presented to the American people and in 
fact passed goes to people who make less than $75,000 a year. They are 
the workhorses in our economy. They are the families who sit around the 
dinner table each night and talk about the day's activities. They are 
the families that also plan for their tomorrows.
  We wanted those people to have the benefit of the tax cuts. That is 
why we did it in a very balanced way, as the next chart also 
demonstrates. This shows American taxpayers from the lowest income 20 
percent, through the highest income 20 percent. We tried to balance our 
tax cuts so we would not change the distribution of who pays how much 
in terms of the total tax load that is sent here to Washington, DC.
  Mr. Speaker, under the current tax plan as it exists today, 63 
percent of the total dollars that are sent here are paid by the highest 
20 percent. That is way over on the other end there, demonstrated by 
the red bar. The yellow bar shows that under the Republican tax plan, 
63 percent will still continue to be paid by the highest 20 percent.
  The same is true of the next percent, the percentage between 60 
percent and 80 percent. Under the current tax plan passed in 1993 by 
the Democrats and Bill Clinton, 21 percent of the total tax load is 
paid by that quintile, as we call it, and under the Republican tax 
plan, 21 percent will be paid by that same quintile. The same is true 
of people who are in the third quintile, in the second quintile, and in 
the very lowest quintile, which does not change either.
  So as we move toward a smaller Government, as we move toward a less 
expensive Government, as we move toward an economy that is what it used 
to be, we believe it should be done in a balanced and fair way. That is 
what my friends on the other side of the aisle have been disagreeing 
with throughout this week.

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