[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 2, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SOLUTIONS TO THE CHALLENGES WE FACE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of representing a very 
diverse district in Illinois. I represent the south side of Chicago, 
the south suburbs in Cook and Will Counties, a lot of bedroom 
communities like the town of Morris where I live, towns like Peru, and 
a lot of farm towns. When representing a diverse district, of course 
one wants to listen and find out what is a common message, and I find, 
as I listen and learn, the concerns of the people of this very diverse 
district. They tell me one very clear message, and that is the people 
of our part of Illinois want solutions, solutions to the challenges 
that we face.
  In fact, in 1994 when we were elected they sent us here with a very 
clear message that was part of that effort to find solutions, and that 
is we want to change how Washington works and make Washington 
responsive to the folks back home. When we were elected in 1994, we 
wanted to bring solutions to balance the budget, to cut taxes, to 
reform welfare, to tame the IRS. There were an awful lot of folks in 
Washington who said we could not do any of those things because they 
had always failed in the past. But I am proud to say that we did. I am 
pretty proud of our accomplishments: balancing the budget for the first 
time in 28 years, cutting taxes for the first time in 16 years, 
reforming welfare for the first time in a generation, taming the IRS 
for the first time ever. We produced a balanced budget that is now 
projecting a $2.3 trillion; that is ``T'' as in Tom trillion dollars 
surplus of extra tax revenue. We produced a $500 per child tax credit 
that will now benefit three million Illinois children. We produced 
welfare reform that has now lowered rolls in Illinois by 25 percent, 
and taxpayers now enjoy the same rights with the IRS that they do in 
the courtroom, and that is a taxpayer is innocent until proven guilty.
  Mr. Speaker, those are real accomplishments, but we continue to face 
challenges in this Congress, and because this Congress held the 
President's feet to the fire, we balanced the budget, and now we are 
collecting more in taxes than we are spending. And the question is 
today: What do we do with that extra tax money? What do we do with that 
$2.3 trillion surplus of extra tax revenue?
  I believe it's pretty clear what the first priority is, and I think 
we all agree. We want to save Social Security. We want to save Social 
Security first, and I want to point out that last fall this House of 
Representatives passed the 90-10 plan which would have set aside 90 
percent of the budget surplus, the extra tax revenue to save Social 
Security. Two weeks ago in this very room the President said we now 
only need 62 percent. Well, we agree. We want to make the first 
priority, and we certainly agree that at least 62 percent of the 
surplus tax revenue should be reserved for saving Social Security. The 
question is: What do we do with the rest?

  Some say, particularly Bill Clinton, we should save Social Security 
and spend the rest on new big government programs. Now I disagree. I 
believe we should save Social Security and give the rest back in tax 
relief. The question is, it is simple: Whose money is it in the first 
place?
  If my colleagues go to a restaurant and they pay too much, they 
overpay their bill, the restaurant refunds their money. They do not 
keep it and spend it on something else. Well, clearly in this case the 
government is collecting too much. Well, let us give it back.
  The question is: Do we want to save Social Security and create new 
government programs and spend the rest of the surplus, or do we want to 
give it back by saving Social Security and eliminating the marriage tax 
penalty and rewarding retirement savings? Tax Foundation says today 
that the tax burden is pretty high. In fact, for the average family in 
Illinois, 40 percent of the average family's income in Illinois now 
goes to Washington and Springfield and local taxing bodies at every 
level. In fact, since Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, the total 
amount of tax revenue collected has gone up 63 percent since 1992.
  Clearly taxes are too high.
  We can help working taxpayers we can help working taxpayers, we can 
help working families. Let us save Social Security and cut taxes. Let 
us save Social Security and eliminate the marriage tax penalty. Let us 
save Social Security and reward savings for retirement. Some say we 
cannot, but I believe we can. Just as we balanced the budget for the 
first time in 28 years, it is because we also cut taxes for the first 
time in 16 years, reformed welfare for the first time in a generation 
and tamed the IRS for the first time ever. We can also save Social 
Security, and lower taxes for working families and bring that tax 
burden down for the first time in a long time.
  Mr. Speaker, let us save Social Security, let us cut taxes, let us 
eliminate the marriage tax penalty.

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