[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5923-H5924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DEMOCRATS STAND FIRM FOR FAIR TAX TREATMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, it is particularly 
appropriate to have the gentlewoman from Missouri [Mrs. Emerson] this 
morning presiding over these Chambers, because I believe that this tax 
bill reflects those individuals of goodwill who have worked so very 
hard to ensure that America's working women realize tax relief.
  Let me just simply talk about credit. This is not about who did what, 
but as long as we are in the credit column, let me emphasize where the 
work was really done.
  I am proud of this tax relief plan because it goes to the core of 
what America stands for: Our children. As the chairperson of the 
Congressional Children's Caucus, I can assure my colleagues of the hard 
work that the Democrats persisted on to ensure that $24 billion, $24 
billion, a plan that was not in the initial Republican offering of tax 
relief, will now be given for children who are uninsured, $24 billion.
  Actually, we do not even know how many dollars will be saved by 
providing children who are uninsured some $10 million plus with 
preventative care for working families who do not have the option of 
insuring their children through their work. Madam Speaker, $24 billion.
  Then there is a story that I think needs to be told, and that is one 
that I am not going to hide. There is no actual evidence whatsoever 
that showed that the Republican plan was going to give any 
consideration to families making under $50,000 a year, none whatsoever, 
none, absolutely none, until the Democrats persisted time after time 
after time after time.
  I am gratified that when the Republicans started with their 3.9 
million families, resulting in 5.5 million that were going to get the 
$500 a year tax credit, Democrats again, time after time after time, in 
negotiations and on the floor of the House, refused to compromise. What 
do we have now? Coverage of 8.7 families and 13 million children will 
receive the benefit of the $500 a year tax credit. I do not know about 
my colleagues, but that is one thing that we are not going to step away 
from.
  Is this a balanced tax plan? It has its ups and downs, but it does 
respond to working men and women, the schoolteacher, the bus driver, 
the rookie police officer, many of the folk who are not able to get to 
the U.S. Congress and even sit in these august bodies or even sit in 
the gallery and watch as we debate this issue, individuals who may not 
have had a vacation in the last 10 years or 5 years, individuals who 
did not get benefits from their work, but they paid payroll taxes. And 
that was the accusation that was being made by our Republican friends, 
that they were on welfare because they did not pay tax or they got the 
earned income tax credit, which we all know they had to pay for.
  I am proud of what the Democrats have done in this now tax relief, 
that is truly one that responds to all Americans.
  Welfare to work? Yes, we passed the welfare bill. I happen to have 
voted for one that had more meaning than what we ultimately passed. 
Right now in our cities, we are seeing people cut off with nowhere to 
go, but we insisted, as Democrats, to provide $3 billion for a real 
welfare-to-work program, a program that would be governed by our cities 
and also the Department of Labor who believes in increasing and 
encouraging work. This will give real meaning to welfare to work, 
moving young mothers and young families that heretofore did not have 
training into training and provide them with jobs.
  What is the sense of moving people off of welfare when companies 
around the Nation will not hire them because they have no work 
experience or they have had no training? Democrats who have been down 
in the trenches with these individuals who represent these urban 
centers and rural communities understand and sympathize with what it is 
like to be someone who needs something. I am very gratified that it was 
the Democrats who stood here and fought to ensure that we had the kind 
of plan that we could stand up and be proud of.
  Let me say this for those who have small family farms and small 
businesses, many of whom spoke to me in my district. There is nothing I 
am going to be ashamed about there as well, because Democrats forced 
the $1.1 billion, forced it to occur in a sooner period of time in 
terms of relief for estate and small business farmers in order to 
ensure that they were included in the loop.
  Yes, there are capital gains taxes, and I am going to be watching to 
see how that drives the economy, because in fact the 1993 budget bill 
and tax bill is the one that made this economy what it was, and that 
was under a President that was a Democrat and a Congress that was 
Democrat. We are thriving in this economy right now today because of 
the 1993 vote that all Democrats took who are here in this U.S. 
Congress.
  We have many things to still fix: Disproportionate share in the State 
of Texas, where we have to pay for our Medicaid as opposed to other 
States. We must work on that across the board. But I can assure my 
colleagues that this tax bill is what it is because Democrats stayed in 
the fight and we will continue to fight to make sure that this is a tax 
bill for working Americans.

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