[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 21, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H6023-H6024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE THIRD BALANCED BUDGET IN 3 YEARS

  (Mr. WELLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, this House and this Congress 
and the President joined with us in enacting the first balanced budget 
in 28 years, a balanced budget which contained key middle class tax 
cuts. Thanks to that middle class tax cut we are enjoying a booming 
economy and a $3 trillion projected budget surplus.
  Of course, under the Republican budget, we set aside two-thirds of 
the surplus for Medicare and Social Security; one-third we use, of 
course, for tax relief. I would also point out under this Republican 
budget this year, the third balanced budget in 3 years, we are going to 
set aside $6 for debt retirement for every dollar in tax relief.
  I also want to point out in this tax relief package that we are 
working on right now, that we are addressing a question that I have 
raised in this House, and that is is it right, is it fair,

[[Page H6024]]

that under our Tax Code today, married working couples pay more in 
taxes just because they are married?
  A key provision of the Financial Freedom Act, of course, is efforts 
to eliminate the marriage tax penalty for almost 28 million married 
working couples, who will receive $243 in marriage tax relief, and it 
is time. Think about it; $243, that is a month's car payment for a lot 
of families. This legislation deserves bipartisan support.

                          ____________________