[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5921-H5922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    WHAT A DIFFERENCE 4 YEARS MAKES

  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Madam Speaker, what a difference 4 years has made. If 
we look back just 4 years ago, this Congress, under the leadership of 
the other team, was debating the largest tax increase in American 
history. They were attempting to dismantle the greatest health care 
system the world has ever known. Welfare reform was being ignored, and 
the Medicare trust fund was moving toward bankruptcy and was being 
ignored as well. The Congressional Budget Office was predicting $200 
billion deficits for as far as the eye could see. What a difference 4 
years has made.
  Now, we have actually reformed the welfare system, and as a net 
result, there are 1.3 million American families who were on the welfare 
rolls who are now on payrolls. I have often said that the real benefit 
of the welfare reform system that we passed in this Congress 2 years 
ago was not that it will save money, but it will save people, it will 
save families, and it will save children from one more generation of 
dependency and despair.
  What a difference 4 years has made. We now have agricultural reform 
so that farmers are starting to farm for the market rather than for the 
Government. What a difference 4 years has made as it relates to taxes 
and spending. As I say, 4 years ago the Congressional Budget Office was 
telling us that we would have $200 billion deficits for as far as the 
eye could see, and today, I am happy to report, as a result of some 
tough negotiations and work with this President, we are on the verge of 
passing the first balanced budget since I was in high school.
  That is great news for the American people; it is great news for our 
future. We are reducing the rate of growth in Federal spending by half. 
Some of us would say that Federal spending will still be going up too 
much under this balanced budget agreement, but the good news is, we are 
balancing the budget, we are keeping our promises, and we are doing 
what the American people have asked the Congress to do for so long.
  What a difference 4 years has made. As I said earlier, 4 years ago 
they were debating the largest tax increase in American history. Now we 
are going to debate a significant amount of tax relief for working 
families, and they will begin to notice that next year. Everyone who 
has an income of less than $110,000 and has children is going to get 
tax relief, the per child tax credit. It will only be $400 next year, 
but then it goes to $500. That is real money for real families that 
will make a real difference in their lives, and it is about allowing 
them to keep more of what they earn so that they can spend and save it 
as they see fit.
  There is real tax relief for small business people and farmers as 
well. As a matter of fact, perhaps the biggest benefactors of the 
program that was agreed to last night by the White House and 
congressional leaders will be small business people and farmers. And I 
represent an awful lot of farmers back in my district in southeastern 
Minnesota. For example, they will see real capital gains tax relief, 
over a 30-percent cut over the next 5 years. Small business people and 
farmers understand what capital gains are all about, because so many of 
them live poor and die rich.
  Speaking of death, as a matter of fact, this is one other area where 
I am very happy with the agreement that was reached between the White 
House and the Congress. The exemption on death taxes will be increased 
immediately for small business people and farmers, from $600,000 to 
$1,300,000 per person, so that a couple, that husband and wife who are 
working the family farm, it is going to mean that they can pass that 
farm along to their kids, and that is great news for the American 
people as well.
  One of the other things that I have worked on for many years that is 
good news in this tax package that has been agreed to is that we will 
finally have 100 percent deductibility for health care expenses for 
small business people and farmers. That is great news. In fact, that 
may be one of the most important health care reforms this Congress has 
passed in a long time.

[[Page H5922]]

  But as we look at all of the things that are in this tax package, I 
think it is good news for the American people, and I think we will have 
set the stage for long-term economic growth.
  As we look at some of the other elements that are in this package, if 
parents have kids that are going to college, and I speak now as a baby 
boomer, and I have one in college, and one just finished high school 
and will be going to vocational school next year, and I have one in 
high school. When we look at educational expenses particularly baby 
boomer families are having right now, there is over 31 billion dollars' 
worth of tax relief for those families. That is great news. We are 
going to make it easier for those families to send those kids on to 
higher education.
  So as we look at this package, there are lots of things in there that 
I think all sides can take credit for. We are going to expand the 
availability of health care for kids. The Kid Care Program, $24 billion 
will be committed to that program over the next 5 years. We want to say 
to all children that they ought to have the right to get the health 
care that they deserve.
  So this is good news for the American people. It is good news for 
American families, and it demonstrates what a difference 4 years has 
made.

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