[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 46 (Thursday, April 23, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  REGARDING THE PRESIDENT'S TAX PARTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, we would like to have gone into recess a few 
minutes ago, but the staff of the House has convinced me otherwise. But 
we wanted to go into recess to give time for our Democrat colleagues to 
go down to the White House so that they could celebrate.
  And why are they celebrating? They are celebrating those Members of 
Congress who voted for the largest tax increase in the history of this 
country. We want to make sure they all were able to get down to the 
White House in a timely fashion. Included in that group are several 
former Members of Congress who lost because of that vote.
  I am not kidding. This is not April Fool's Day. This is actually 
happening down at the White House as we speak. Do not worry, though. 
There will not be any Republicans invited to the White House tonight 
because not one Republican voted for the largest tax increase in 
history and so none of us got an invitation.
  But down in my office right now we are having hot dogs and pizza to 
celebrate the fact that we voted for tax cuts last year. We are going 
to vote for tax cuts again this year. We are going to vote for tax cuts 
again next year. We will vote for tax cuts every year we are in the 
majority.
  And we will continue to want to cut taxes for America's working 
families. Because we understand that over 50 percent of a family's 
income goes to the Government. If you add up State, local and Federal 
taxes and the cost of regulation, 50 cents out of every hard-earned 
dollar that the American family makes today goes to the government. No 
wonder our families are in strain. No wonder it takes one parent to 
work for the Government while the other parent works for the family.
  But Democrats, on the other hand, love to raise taxes. One prominent 
Democrat admitted that Democrats just do not like to cut taxes, they 
like to raise taxes. They think cutting taxes is irresponsible.

                              {time}  1945

  They think raising taxes is responsible. Can we remember the debates 
of 1995 and 1996? Everybody said we cannot cut taxes and balance the 
budget; that is irrelevant, and it is crazy. Well, we did it last year. 
We cut taxes on the American family. We had the first balanced budget 
agreement in I do not know how many years.
  But this is why they are usually responsible for increasing those 
taxes. Now, make no mistake about it, the Democrat budget not only 
increased taxes, it also increased spending and deepened the deficit. 
Now the Republican budget, the budget we passed in 1995, cut taxes and 
balanced the budget.
  So the lesson here is very simple. If we want higher taxes and more 
Washington spending and higher deficits, then the American people need 
to vote for the Democrats. If we want lower taxes and a balanced budget 
and sensible government spending, then they should vote for the 
Republicans.
  So I hope my friends are enjoying themselves down at the White House 
tonight. But their party's commitment to higher taxes is no party.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, will my friend the gentleman 
from Texas yield?
  Mr. DeLAY. I will be glad to yield.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I am not going to argue with 
the gentleman on the tax increases, but it is misleading to the 
American people to say that this Congress has passed a balanced budget. 
They did not.
  Mr. DeLAY. Well, the gentleman reads a different budget.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. The budget plan that you passed----
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I have the time, and I am reclaiming the time 
and I am going to answer the gentleman's statement.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. But, please, the American public needs to 
know we are not there yet.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The gentleman from Texas has 
the time.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman does not know what unified 
budgeting is. The gentleman obviously does not know. I agree with the 
gentleman that we have a huge surplus that we are spending on 
government spending. But if we take all the spending and all the tax 
revenues, then we are in surplus.
  I want, as the gentleman wants, I am sure, I want to make it a true 
balanced budget by taking the Social Security surplus and not spend it 
on government spending. If the gentleman will work with me, I guarantee 
we will come up with a budget that will accomplish that. I think I have 
the credibility to do that.

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