[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 132 (Monday, September 28, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H9165-H9166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY WHILE PROVIDING TAX RELIEF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Thune) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. Speaker, I want to echo everything that my 
distinguished friend, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), just 
said because that is a very important issue to the farmers and ranchers 
in my home State of South Dakota.

[[Page H9166]]

  What I would like to do this evening is just for a few minutes here 
discuss some things I think are very important to the future of our 
country as well, and to say that a couple of years ago about this time 
there was a debate going on in this country over the airwaves about the 
Republican so-called commitment to destroy Medicare, and we heard over 
and over on the airwaves, from candidates who were seeking elective 
office, that this somehow was going to come to pass, and here we are 
two years later.
  Of course, after that, when we came back in January, when those of us 
who were freshmen came and joined the Congress, and then last summer we 
passed the balanced budget agreement and believe it or not the plan at 
that time that was characterized as destroying Medicare then became our 
plan to save Medicare. A lot of our friends on the other side, who ran 
campaigns in the fall of 1996 attacking Republican candidates for what 
they perceived as a plan to destroy Medicare, ended up voting for a 
plan that then became a plan to save Medicare and actually spent less 
on Medicare than the very plan that they spent all of 1996 attacking.

  Now, I just use that as an illustration to point out some of the 
hypocrisy that you are going to hear, and I want the American people to 
listen very carefully to this because the same thing is going to happen 
again this year. We have already heard it start.
  On Saturday, we passed historic legislation to set aside money for 
Social Security. Ninety percent, or $1.4 trillion, of the projected 
surplus that will come into this country is going to be walled off and 
set aside to save Social Security. That is a commitment that we have 
made.
  The balance, the remaining 10 percent, or about $80 billion, is going 
to be used to bring tax relief to the American people.
  Already our friends on the other side have been relentlessly 
attacking the Republican plan to destroy Social Security, and I just 
want those who are watching this evening across America, the taxpayers 
of this country, the people who should care very deeply about this 
issue, to know one thing. You are going to hear over and over and over 
again repeated a parade of speakers on this floor in this House, and on 
the airwaves this fall, about attempts to kill Social Security. I want 
you to know they are flatly untrue.
  What we are trying to do is to save Social Security, not only for the 
current generation but for generations to come, and that is why we are 
taking advantage of this historic opportunity to dedicate and set aside 
$1.4 trillion of that surplus to save Social Security.
  What I would like to do this evening is talk about the other 10 
percent, and that is those dollars that we have committed to give back 
to the taxpayer some of their hard earned money. We did it in a way on 
Saturday with a vote that was historic because it will deliver tax 
relief to families by relieving the marriage penalty. It will also 
allow small savers to set aside more in terms of dividends and interest 
and to protect that from income tax and lessen their tax liability 
there, but also for the farmers and ranchers of this country, and in my 
State, who are very near and dear to my heart.
  This is such a wonderful plan for agriculture. If we think about the 
things that are accomplished in this tax relief bill and the problems 
that we are facing in agriculture today, we have an economic disaster 
in rural America. We have historically low prices. We have a price 
crisis, and we need to do everything that we can to help our farmers 
recover.
  We are going to vote upon an ag assistance package later on hopefully 
this week that will provide some needed assistance out there, but at 
the same time we can couple that with tax relief that will put some 
dollars into their pocket.
  One of the things that we did is we lessened the death tax and so 
that those farmers and ranchers who want to pass on their operation to 
the next generation will be able to do so without facing the undertaker 
and the IRS at the same time.
  We also allow for the deductibility of health insurance premiums for 
self-employed people, farmers and ranchers and small business people 
who can benefit tremendously from being able to deduct health insurance 
premiums that they are paying.
  There is a provision in there that makes permanent income averaging 
for farmers and ranchers who have very volatile income. Some years it 
is up. Some years it is down. This allows them to spread it out over 
time and thereby lessen their tax liability.
  There is a loss carryback provision that allows farmers who have had 
losses in the last couple years to offset those losses against more 
profitable years and therefore get a tax refund this year. There are 
expensing provisions that they can use again to help them reduce their 
tax liability.
  This is an incredible package for the farmers and ranchers of this 
country and it is, again, as I said earlier, done in a way that allow 
us to accomplish tax relief and yet make a long-term commitment to 
saving Social Security for the future of our country.
  These are important provisions in this bill. I was proud to support 
it. I hope that we can move this bill forward and pass it in the Senate 
and have the President sign it.

                          ____________________