[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 101 (Wednesday, July 16, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5305]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    STICKING IT TO THE MIDDLE CLASS

  (Mr. PAPPAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. PAPPAS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to respond to those on the 
other side who would like to turn Medicare and Social Security into 
another welfare program. Are they seriously suggesting that the tax 
credit should count against the payroll taxes that are paid by American 
workers?
  Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if the liberals who are proposing this 
understand the consequences of what they are proposing. They are 
proposing that the politicians in Washington, get this, should create a 
brand new entitlement, the greatest something-for-nothing entitlement 
of all time.
  So instead of people paying their way during their working lives so 
that their retirement and health care needs will be met in old age, 
they should not have to pay into the system at all. Let us recap. Pay 
nothing but collect hundreds of thousands in benefits from a system 
that everyone else has to support.
  Payroll taxes are not income taxes, Mr. Speaker. Payroll taxes are 
for Social Security and Medicare. Let us not turn Social Security and 
Medicare into a massive welfare program that sticks it yet again to the 
middle class.

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