[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 10, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H1147-H1148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE REPUBLICAN AGENDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Green of Wisconsin). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, I represent a pretty diverse district. I 
represent the south side of Chicago and the south suburbs in Cook and 
Will Counties, bedroom communities like the town of Morris, where I 
live, as well as a lot of corn fields and farm towns. Representing such 
a diverse district, city and suburbs and country, I have learned to 
listen, and to listen for the common concerns that the people ask their 
elected representatives to look out for.
  One clear message that I have heard over the last 4 years that I have 
had the privilege of serving in this House of Representatives is that 
the folks back home want us to work together, they want us to get 
things done, and they want us to come up with real solutions, solutions 
that meet the challenges that we face. I am pretty proud that we have 
met that request.
  When I was first elected in 1994, I was told it would be too 
difficult to balance the budget, and surely we could not cut taxes, let 
alone reform welfare or tame the IRS. I am proud to say in the last 4 
years we did just that. By working together, by staying focused, by 
keeping our eye on the ball and working hard, we balanced the budget 
for the first time in 28 years, we cut taxes for the middle class for 
the first time in 16 years, we reformed welfare for the first time in a 
generation, and we tamed the tax collector, reforming the IRS. That is 
pretty good. Those are real accomplishments, major changes in how 
Washington works.
  When I am back home in Illinois folks say, that is pretty good, but 
what is the Congress going to do next; what is the challenge? When I 
listen to the concerns back home, I hear several things. The folks back 
home in Illinois tell me they want low taxes and good schools and they 
want a secure retirement, and that is the Republican agenda this year.
  We want to ensure that our local public schools and private schools 
are strong, and that our public schools are run by locally elected 
school boards and local teachers and local parents and local school 
administrators, and that dollars we provide actually reach the 
classroom to help kids learn.
  We also want to save Social Security by walling off the Social 
Security Trust Fund and ensuring that 100 percent of Social Security 
dollars go for Social Security. And we want to lower taxes.
  Now, that also means we have some big challenges ahead of us. How are 
we going to accomplish that? There is a big challenge and an 
opportunity, and my colleagues and I have participated just in the last 
hour talking about some of those challenges, but the biggest 
opportunity and challenge is what are we going to do with the so-called 
surplus, $2.8 trillion in extra tax revenue, most of which is Social 
Security?
  Well, the President says we should take 62 percent of it for Social 
Security and spend the rest. Republicans say we want to do it 
differently; we want to ensure that 100 percent of Social Security 
dollars go for Social Security, and

[[Page H1148]]

what is left over, the incomes tax revenue surplus, we want to use to 
lower the tax burden on working families and pay down the national 
debt. That is a big challenge.
  Our goal this year is to do something that has not been done for a 
generation. We are going to stop a practice that began with President 
Johnson, back in the 1960s, when he was looking for a way to finance 
the Vietnam War and to finance the great society programs and grow 
government. President Johnson and the Congress in the late 1960's began 
the practice of raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. Our number one 
goal this year, as we work to save Social Security is to put a stop to 
that, to stop the raids on Social Security.
  Let me point out something here. This coming year there will be about 
$137 billion in surplus Social Security revenues. Republicans say let 
us give 100 percent of that to Social Security. The President, because 
he only wants to take 62 percent of the surplus, wants to spend a big 
portion of the Social Security Trust Fund. In fact, he wants to spend 
about $52 billion of the Social Security Trust Fund revenues this 
coming year. Over 5 years that is $250 billion raided from the Social 
Security Trust Fund. We want to put a stop to that.
  While we put a stop to the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund, we 
also want to pay down the national debt. And with money that is left 
over, after we protect the Social Security Trust Fund dollars, when it 
comes to those income tax revenues, the extra tax revenue that comes 
from the income tax, the real surplus beyond Social Security, we want 
to use that to give back to the people who sent it here.
  Some ask, well, how will we lower the tax burden? Taxes are at their 
highest level in history. Twenty-one percent of our gross domestic 
product today goes to the Federal Government. The average Illinois 
family sends 40 percent of their income to local, State, and Federal 
Government. Clearly, that tax burden is too high. Well, I suggest, as 
we look for ways of lowering the tax burden on working middle class 
families, that we work to simplify the Tax Code; to address the 
fairness issues in the tax codes.
  When I am back home, whether at a union hall or the VFW, clearly they 
identify the need to eliminate the marriage tax penalty, the need to 
eliminate the death tax and to eliminate the earnings limit. We can 
save Social Security. Let us wall off the Social Security Trust Fund 
and bring fairness to the Tax Code.

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