[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 12 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H337-H338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IT IS TIME FOR MARRIAGE TAX RELIEF FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an issue that was 
just on the floor less than an hour ago today. That was the marriage 
penalty elimination.
  I must say, as a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, I was 
quite shocked. If Members listened to the entire debate, they would 
have heard the hand-wringing and moaning and groaning from the other 
side of the aisle that somehow we were doing a terrible injustice to 
the United States budget, and that we were somehow going to bankrupt 
our Nation by providing necessary relief to married couples across this 
great land of ours.
  In the committee, when we were marking up the bill, I heard many 
Members of the leadership on that side of the aisle describing things 
like giving taxpayers back some of their money as a bonus. Why are they 
giving people a bonus when they do not pay those taxes that are being 
claimed on marriage penalties? And if we are giving them more of their 
money back, that is a bonus?
  Mr. Speaker, where I come from, every cent that the American taxpayer 
earns, a taxpayer who works hard 40-plus hours a week, some with two 
jobs, every cent that they send to this Capitol here in Washington, 
D.C. is their money, not ours.
  But they on the other side have this nomenclature of bonus, surplus, 
and you name it. Then, of course, I heard today about the most 
important necessity established by that side of the aisle, which is pay 
down the debt, pay down the debt. I must have heard it 48 times today, 
if I heard it once.
  I am glad they finally recognize that they need to pay down the debt 
that they have run up when they were in charge for well over 40 years, 
charging things to the American taxpayer, politically popular programs, 
but no means in sight to pay for them. Much like a reckless person with 
a credit card, they were ringing up the total, ringing up the purchase, 
not worrying about who is going to pay the bill.
  We are at a day of reckoning. We have balanced the budget. We are 
putting money towards debt repayment. We paid over $139 billion over 
the last 2 years in debt repayment. I think we are making wonderful 
progress towards debt repayment.
  Remember, a few years ago when we, the majority, started this and 
decided to cut the capital gains tax from ordinary income to 20 
percent, we heard again, you cannot do it, the markets will go crazy, 
you will bankrupt the Nation. Let us talk about what has happened: a 
record Dow, a record NASDAQ, higher income for all Americans, more 
money to the Treasury, surplus revenues.
  Then the following campaign year when they argued against it, most 
took credit for it and said, I gave you a tax cut.
  We gave a $500 per child tax cut from this Congress because we 
believe raising children is expensive, and people need more of their 
own money back.
  Those are just some of the things we did to make a difference in 
Americans' lives.
  We also heard last year before we adjourned that we were dipping into 
social security, we were dipping into social security. Then new numbers 
came out in December that reflected the opposite. We did not touch 
social security. We kept our commitment. We kept our pledge. Our pledge 
was this: shore up social security, shore up Medicare, work on things 
for the average

[[Page H338]]

family and give them some tax reduction.
  Today we passed the bill. After the contentious debate, hours on this 
floor, hours of hand-wringing, we actually got 268 votes for our 
proposal to eliminate the marriage penalty. Forty-eight Democrats and 
one Independent joined us. That is a bipartisan effort. I applaud those 
who had the courage to recognize the inequity of the Tax Code. Fifty-
one thousand and twenty-one people in my district are paying a marriage 
penalty, and 1,176,000 throughout the great State of Florida are paying 
a marriage penalty.

  We were on record today as moving forward to eliminate this tax 
burden on the average families who are working, who are struggling, who 
are providing for their children and their families in the districts in 
which they live.
  Let us get out of the notion here in this Capital of Washington, D.C. 
that this is our money, because it is not. This money belongs to the 
taxpayers of America. Every chance we get, and I am telling the 
Members, seriously, we are working as a Congress on our side of the 
aisle to preserve social security, to preserve Medicare, to fix the 
problems.
  Yes, we will meet, I am certain, in some accommodation on 
prescription drugs. I am certain of this. I know we need to do that. We 
will reach out in a bipartisan manner. But I have to tell the Members, 
I have just about had enough, because on some issues that are important 
to the other side of the aisle, this should be a bipartisan effort.
  When we come to the floor on what we think is a bipartisan effort, 22 
Democrats signed our bill, we would think there would be mutual 
admiration for the great work being done today. President Clinton, Vice 
President Gore, support some marriage penalty elimination. It is all 
the devil in the details. If it is not their bill, they are not happy 
and satisfied, and have to bellyache about the consequences.
  Mr. Speaker, we will balance the budget. We will pay down the debt. 
We will shore up social security. We will fix Medicare. We will work on 
prescription drug coverage. We will also do the things that are 
necessary to help the American family, who are working oftentimes two 
jobs in order to make ends meet. We will work to make certain we have 
reached the threshold so they can at least have some of their own hard-
earned money back in their pockets.
  At the end of a 40-hour work, it is pretty difficult to go home and 
realize you have very little left after paying excise taxes, mortgage 
taxes. In fact, Mrs. Clinton today was shocked, shocked when she said, 
and I quote from the New York Times, ``I can't believe how high taxes 
are on properties here in New York,'' since she just bought a house, 
the first one in well over 20 years.
  Welcome to the real world. We are paying taxes all our lives. I have 
been paying property taxes for decades. It is difficult. It is tough. 
Wake up. This is reality, so people do need a break.

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