[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H6662-H6665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2014, TAXPAYER RELIEF ACT OF 1997

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, first let me thank you for interceding in the conference 
to make certain that a provision was inserted that allows kids who 
dream about college to get there. The President's proposal finally was 
given to him in an approved way by the House of Representatives. While 
all of us appreciate how important education is at the higher level, 
some of us would not have been able to get to college if it was not 
that we had the GI bill to get to high school first, and because of the 
cooperation of the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Archer] and the Speaker 
and the President, we do have that there.
  Let me say this, that being bipartisan in my opinion really does not 
mean that we have given up the principles of our party. It does mean 
that it was this President that decided that the American people in the 
middle-income group was entitled to a tax cut. It means that this 
President thought the people of the United States of America should 
keep up their education and their technology in order to be a part of 
this

[[Page H6663]]

growing international trade which we have been a leader in. It was this 
President who thought that as we have cut back in the budget, it was 
the working people that he wanted to give some type of credit for their 
children, that the ever increasing cost of living was there and it had 
not been reflected in the tax cut.
  When we leave here, I know that some of you would say, well, the 
whole idea started with Ronald Reagan and even though we voted against 
the 1993 budget, we are in this condition today that we are able to 
give it because the economy is robust and Ronald did it. Let me tell 
you, from the bottom of my heart, do and say what makes you feel good.
  Because when you think about it, some of us truly believe that we are 
here today because the President had a veto and you want a bill to take 
home. We are here today because some of us really did not think that we 
should have a tax cut at all. Some of us were thinking about rebuilding 
our cities. Some of us were thinking about having an educational system 
that would be superior to any country in the world. Some of us were 
really thinking that we should have jobs so that anybody who wants to 
work could participate in rebuilding America so that we never would be 
in the position we were in before. But when our President speaks and he 
calls for bipartisanship, maybe we do not understand it, but the 
American people understood it, that they are sick and tired of 
listening to our differences and they wanted economic relief.
  And so our leadership decided, on both sides, ``Let's go for our 
principles and make certain we come out with a bill that everyone can 
live with.'' It is absolutely amazing to see the number of Democrats 
that find the final work-sheet something that they cannot live with. 
Thank God most all of them are in districts that are secure. But the 
most important thing is that what they are trying to say is that if we 
were in the majority, we would be more than happy than we are today. 
But we can count, and you are in the majority, and we have to yield to 
some of your priorities. But because there was principle involved, we 
did not just say no to you. We went to work and said, ``If we're going 
to do it, let's do it in the way that people can go home with pride and 
dignity'' and say that we reached an agreement that we would take care 
of everybody that we think is deserving.
  I do not know your districts as well as I know my own. But really 
people do not run inside my clubhouse asking, How did you do on 
indexing? And, for God's sake, did you reduce capital gains? I know 
that many of you have to deal with it and so you are stuck with your 
priorities. I know that when it comes to providing for child care, 
where do you find the middle class? It depends on where you come from. 
You can go up to $100,000, $200,000 and feel good and we do not mind 
that at all, except you are not going to do it at the expense of hard-
working people that have got kids that pay taxes every day. And there 
is one thing we are going to do, is that when people get up every 
morning, take care of their kids, get out there and work, and just 
because they are in lower income brackets and just because we want to 
give everybody a hand in meeting their responsibility, we are not going 
to call them any longer welfare recipients because you are with us.
  When we go back home, we are able to say as a Congress that we did 
not determine employer-employee relationships the way employers would 
want it. We are not going to be the people that says that a boss can 
determine that his payroll taxes are too high, that he does not want to 
pay Social Security, that he or she does not want to pay for health 
care, that they do not determine who is an independent contractor. We 
have a law on the books to determine it. But to broaden it so that 
those people who do not want the burden of being employers and taking 
care of the responsibility of their employees, no, independent 
contracts are out, and we all feel better for it because it was a give-
and-take on our principles.

                              {time}  1530

  We know, we know that whenever we want someone to write a piece of 
honest literature, to give us a poll or to give us a graph, that the 
one who pays for that poll and graph that they will get what they want. 
I just never thought the Republicans could be so creative with their 
distribution tables.
  My God, when I looked at that, I said ``How could they even make it 
up?'' But see, if we forget the last 5 years and just deal with their 
first years, it is amazing.
  Capital gains cuts makes money. But stop there because when we get 
into the next 5 years, all of America are losers.
  So what we have to do is this, is to be prepared to say to our 
constituents the President of the United States has spoken. He has 
demanded, and the American people have supported him in saying that 
they want a tax cut, they want to end the fighting and they want 
bipartisanship.
  We have agreed that we have done it. A lot of people swallowed hard 
on their side; I regret that they were not given an opportunity to 
express it, but a lot of people on our side had problems, and they were 
able to express it.
  Let us all say it is not a Republican victory, it is not a Democratic 
victory, but the people of the United States, under the leadership of 
the President of the United States, with all due respect to President 
Reagan, are the winners of this battle.
  Mr. ARCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, today truly is a day for the coming together of the 
people of this Nation. Yes, some have spoken vibrantly against this 
bill, and it is their right because the rights of the minority are 
always accorded in the United States of America. But for those who are 
in the mainstream majority, we can all revel at what we are about to do 
for the American people.
  I could cite the differences, the things that I wanted in the bill, 
the things that perphaps got in here that I thought were not good 
policy, but this is not the day for that. This is a day for coming 
together.
  On June 9, when I announced this tax plan to the public, I said that 
the American people wanted a Democrat President and a Republican 
Congress to work together on behalf of our Nation, and today I say to 
the American people, ``We heard you, we did it, and this bill is a 
product of that effort.''
  It is an excellent agreement. It provides tax relief to the American 
people throughout their lives from the childhood years to the education 
years, from the savings years to the retirement years; yes, and even 
provides tax relief at death. It is a victory for all Americans, who 
believe that Washington should change its ways so the American people 
will not have to change theirs. It says Congress will no longer solve 
problems by raising taxes, that instead we solve problems by restoring 
hope, power and opportunity to the people who earn and pay those taxes.
  Over 40 million children will benefit from the $500 child credit. 
Families will be able to have more money to spend or to save, as they 
see fit, at their discretion. It is their money, they made it, and they 
should be able to keep it.
  The education relief tells young people that education is not only 
the right thing to do, but it is going to be more affordable from here 
on. The capital gains and the individual retirement account are all 
incentives to send Americans a message:
  ``Work hard, save, and you will be able to keep more of the fruits of 
your labor.''
  Just because taxpayers invest money wisely does not mean that Uncle 
Sam has a hunting license to take it away from them.
  And finally the death tax, the cruelest tax of all. No one should 
have to visit the IRS and the undertaker on the same day. It is wrong 
for family farms and small businesses to be broken up just because 
widows and widowers and children cannot afford the money to pay the 
Federal taxes. The death tax should be repealed, and this is the 
beginning of that effort.
  But, Mr. Speaker, on this bill we do much more. We make the Orphan 
Drug Tax Credit permanent so that people with rare diseases that do not 
generate enough volume in the development of drugs will be able to live 
when they would not otherwise be able to live and be able to see their 
health improved when it would otherwise deteriorate.
  And yes, yes, we cut the alternative minimum tax on businesses so 
that

[[Page H6664]]

businesses will be able to invest in job producing equipment and get a 
deduction for the depreciation that the law allows to them instead of 
making them pay tax at the end of the year on the depreciation that the 
law said is taken to buy the equipment to create jobs.
  And what does that do? Yes, Charlie, a lot of us have been thinking 
about how do we create more jobs for Americans. That means greater work 
opportunity for greater jobs for working Americans in a competitive 
world marketplace.
  And last but not least, more than 1 dozen tax loopholes are closed 
because no one, no matter who they are, should receive special tax 
treatment simply because they are politically powerful.
  This plan and a balanced budget are what the American people sent us 
here to do, and we have delivered, and I am proud that this agreement 
continues a remarkably productive record for the Congress. Yesterday we 
saved Medicare from bankruptcy. Last year we fixed the failed welfare 
state so that the poor and the needy will receive a helping hand 
instead of a handout, a right to be independent instead of dependent. 
We protected people who were sick by letting them change jobs without 
losing their health insurance. We modernized telecommunications, 
creating millions of new jobs for this country, high paying jobs, and 
we cut the cost of operating this very body, the Congress of the United 
States, by $200 million a year.
  We reduced the deficit from $203 billion in November of 1994 to $50 
billion or less today, and now, with this bill this year, it will be 
eliminated. And with the legislative results of this week that deficit 
will be completely eliminated.
  Many have heard me talk about my grandson who was born last year, the 
twelfth grandchild, and how I looked down upon him in the incubator in 
the preemie ward and I thought when he grows up, and he will grow up, 
thanks to the technology of modern medicine beyond anything anywhere in 
the world, his pro rata responsibility of interest on the national debt 
during his lifetime will be $189,000 if he is an average wage earner. 
That is unconscionable for us to leave to our children and to their 
grandchildren, and this week we said no, we will not do that.
  Mr. Speaker, 6.4 million new jobs have been created since 1994, 
interest rates have dropped from 8 percent to 6 percent, helping people 
pay their bills and buy their homes, and the stock market has advanced 
from 3900 on the Dow Jones to 8200 just since the elections in 1994.
  Mark my words. Mark my words. We are just warming up. There are more 
taxes to be cut, there are more taxes to be cut, and there is more 
unnecessary wasteful spending to be cut.
  But remember above all, balancing the budget and cutting taxes are 
not merely matters of accounting. They are about our values, they are 
about our convictions, they are about downsizing the power and the 
scope of Washington and upsizing the power and the opportunity of 
people.
  That is why we are going to fight for more tax relief next year, 
because we need to keep the budget in balance while putting big 
government on a diet. We need to look the IRS in the eye and say ``It's 
not your money, it is the people's money.'' The politicians and the IRS 
must stop reaching into the pockets of people and taking what is their 
money because they need it for themselves, and that, my colleagues, is 
what today is all about. It is about a new beginning for a limited 
government, but it is also a return to America that knows no limits.
  That is my dream. What a great new beginning it is, what a great 
unlimited future the people of this country face. We have pulled 
America together, Democrats, Independents, Republicans, and what a 
difference a Republican Congress has made.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the 
previous question on the conference report.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The SPEAKER. The question is the conference report.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker announced that the ayes 
appeared to have it.
  Mr. ARCHER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were-- yeas 389, 
nays 43, not voting 3, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 350]

                               YEAS--389

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Allen
     Andrews
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baesler
     Baker
     Baldacci
     Ballenger
     Barcia
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Barrett (WI)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bateman
     Becerra
     Bentsen
     Bereuter
     Berman
     Berry
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Bliley
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonior
     Bono
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady
     Brown (CA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Bryant
     Bunning
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Canady
     Cannon
     Capps
     Cardin
     Carson
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Christensen
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins
     Combest
     Condit
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Costello
     Cox
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crane
     Crapo
     Cubin
     Cunningham
     Danner
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (VA)
     Deal
     DeGette
     DeLauro
     DeLay
     Deutsch
     Diaz-Balart
     Dickey
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doolittle
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Edwards
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     Engel
     English
     Ensign
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Everett
     Ewing
     Farr
     Fattah
     Fawell
     Fazio
     Flake
     Foglietta
     Foley
     Forbes
     Ford
     Fowler
     Fox
     Franks (NJ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Frost
     Furse
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gejdenson
     Gekas
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gingrich
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Gordon
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Green
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hamilton
     Hansen
     Harman
     Hastert
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hefner
     Herger
     Hill
     Hilleary
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Holden
     Hooley
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inglis
     Istook
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Jenkins
     John
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (WI)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones
     Kanjorski
     Kasich
     Kelly
     Kennelly
     Kildee
     Kim
     Kind (WI)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Klug
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaFalce
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Lantos
     Largent
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lazio
     Leach
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (GA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     Lipinski
     Livingston
     LoBiondo
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Lucas
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manton
     Manzullo
     Martinez
     Mascara
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McDade
     McGovern
     McHale
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McKinney
     Meehan
     Meek
     Menendez
     Metcalf
     Mica
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (CA)
     Miller (FL)
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Molinari
     Mollohan
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Morella
     Murtha
     Myrick
     Nadler
     Neal
     Nethercutt
     Neumann
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Oxley
     Packard
     Pallone
     Pappas
     Parker
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Paul
     Paxon
     Pease
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pickett
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Pomeroy
     Porter
     Portman
     Poshard
     Price (NC)
     Pryce (OH)
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Rangel
     Redmond
     Regula
     Reyes
     Riggs
     Riley
     Rivers
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rogan
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Rothman
     Roukema
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Ryun
     Sabo
     Salmon
     Sanchez
     Sandlin
     Sanford
     Sawyer
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaefer, Dan
     Schaffer, Bob
     Schumer
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Sisisky
     Skaggs
     Skeen
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (OR)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith, Adam
     Smith, Linda
     Snowbarger
     Snyder
     Solomon
     Souder
     Spence
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stearns
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stump
     Stupak
     Sununu
     Talent
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Tauzin
     Taylor (MS)
     Taylor (NC)
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Thurman
     Tiahrt
     Tierney
     Torres
     Traficant
     Turner
     Upton
     Vento
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Watkins
     Watts (OK)
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Wexler
     Weygand
     White
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wise
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wynn
     Young (FL)

                                NAYS--43

     Blumenauer
     Borski
     Campbell
     Clay
     Conyers
     Cummings
     Davis (IL)
     DeFazio
     Delahunt
     Dellums
     Filner
     Frank (MA)
     Gephardt
     Gutierrez
     Hastings (FL)
     Hilliard
     Jackson (IL)
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (MA)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kilpatrick
     Kucinich
     Markey
     Matsui
     McDermott
     McNulty
     Oberstar

[[Page H6665]]


     Obey
     Payne
     Rahall
     Rush
     Sanders
     Scott
     Serrano
     Stark
     Stokes
     Towns
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Waxman
     Yates

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Gonzalez
     Schiff
     Young (AK)

                              {time}  1602

  Mr. RUSH changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
  So the conference report was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________