[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 102 (Thursday, July 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE GOP TAX BILL PROVIDES TAX RELIEF TO HARDWORKING MIDDLE-CLASS 
                                FAMILIES

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, this is the end of the week. By now we have 
heard all the exhaustive cries of our liberal friends over here that 
the Republican tax bill provides tax cuts for the rich and, as they 
will have us believe, the rich do not deserve a tax break.
  However, a close look at who they label as ``rich'' is very 
revealing. In fact, it reveals a tale of deception on every American 
worker. According to a recent independent study, the Democratic 
definition of rich is the total income of any household making more 
than $56,200 a year. They contend, therefore, that 1.7 million union 
members are too rich to deserve tax cuts, 2.4 elementary and high 
school schoolteachers are too rich to deserve a tax cut, 8.1 million 
government workers, 4.2 million mechanics, repairmen, and construction 
workers, and the list goes on and on and on.
  Mr. Speaker, the Democrats complain, and they claim that the only 
equitable way to provide tax relief to the American people is to allow 
those who pay no taxes to receive a bigger refund. Mr. Speaker, the 
Republican tax bill provides that much-needed tax relief to hardworking 
middle-class citizens of this country. I urge all my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to support this bill.

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