[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2330-H2334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ACHIEVEMENTS OF REPUBLICAN-LED CONGRESS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) is recognized
for 50 minutes.
Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, it has been a busy week and a busy last
several months as we have worked hard to address the concerns we hear
about back home.
I represent a pretty diverse district. I have the privilege of
representing the South Side of Chicago; the neighborhoods of Hegwish,
on the east side in the 10th ward. I represent the south suburbs in
Cook County; towns like Lansing and Calumet City, and Park Forest and
Lynwood; as well as suburban towns in Will County, New Lenox and
Frankfort; industrial communities like Joliet; rural areas throughout
the rest of Will County and Kankakee, LaSalle and Grundy Counties. And
I hear a very clear message in that very diverse district, a message
that we should all work together that we should find challenges.
And whether my neighbors that I have the privilege to represent
reside in the city or the suburbs or the country, they tell me that
they want those of us here in the Congress to find solutions to the
challenges that we face.
I think back to 1994, when I had the privilege of being elected to
Congress. I think about the issues of the day at that time, and of
course the challenges that we were debating and facing in that
campaign. And we discussed solutions to those challenges. I remember
back then. It was only 6 years ago that the previous Congress and their
mismanagement and the President were running up $200 to $300 billion
deficits, spending beyond our means. In fact, it was projected that,
before the Republican Congress was elected, that deficit spending would
total $200 to $300 billion a year, as far as the eye could see.
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In response to that, the Democratic Congress, working with President
Clinton and Vice President Gore, passed the biggest tax hike in the
history of our country, placing America's tax burden at its highest
level ever, where the average family in Illinois is now sending at
least 42 percent of their average income to Washington or Springfield
in the local courthouse. That tax burden is too high. And they raised
taxes again and they continued deficit spending.
Unfortunately at that time, in 1994, it was clear that they were
running the Federal Government on a credit card. They raised taxes and
they increased spending. And even though they increased taxes, they
still spent well beyond their means, running up deficits of $200
billion to $300 billion a year, running up a massive public debt and
raiding Social Security to spend on other things.
When we promised change and we made the commitment that when we were
given the opportunity as Republicans to be in the majority that we
would work to change how Washington
[[Page H2331]]
works, balancing the budget and paying down the debt and strengthening
Social Security and reforming welfare.
I am proud to say that in the last 5\1/2\ years that I have had the
privilege to serve in this Congress that we went about doing exactly
what we said we would do. We balanced the budget for first time in 28
years. In fact, over the next 10 years, as a result of our balanced
budget, we are projected to have surpluses, extra money, of almost $3
trillion.
We provided for the first middle-class tax cut in 16 years. Three
million Illinois children in my home State of Illinois now qualify for
that $500 per child tax credit, $500 a year that will stay back home in
that family's pocketbooks rather than coming here to Washington.
We certainly believe that families back in Illinois and working
families throughout this country could better spend their hard-earned
dollars better at home than we can for them here in Washington.
I am also proud to say that the welfare reform that we enacted over
the last 6 years that emphasizes work and family and responsibility has
worked. It has succeeded. We now have seen a reduction in our Nation's
welfare rolls of one-half.
My home county of Grundy County, Illinois, has seen an 85-percent
reduction in welfare; and almost seven million Americans have now moved
from the welfare rolls to the work rolls and the tax rolls, changing
their opportunities.
One of our greatest successes this past year, we made a commitment of
course to change how Washington works by ending what many call
Washington's dirtiest and darkest secret; and that is that for almost
30 years Washington raided the Social Security Trust Fund, dipping into
Social Security, America's retirement account, to spend on other
things.
This past year we put a stop to that, walling off the Social Security
Trust Fund so that Social Security dollars could not be spent on
anything other than Social Security and Medicare. What a great change
in changing how Washington works by stopping the raid on America's
retirement account by stopping the raid on Social Security.
By the way, we also started paying off the national debt. In the last
3 years, we paid down over $350 billion of the Nation's public debt.
That is progress in paying off that credit card debt that was run up
prior to 1994.
We are now working on an answer to the question of what do we do next
in changing how Washington works after we balance the budget and cut
taxes and reform welfare, began paying down the national debt and
stopped the raid on Social Security.
What are we going to do next? Our agenda is simple. We want to help
our local schools. We want to strengthen Social Security and Medicare.
We want to make our Tax Code more fair. And we wanted to continue
paying off that national debt.
I am proud to say that the budget agreement between the House and
Senate that we adopted this week, the budget resolution, which sets the
framework and the guidelines as we balance the budget for the fourth
year in a row, sets those priorities.
I am proud to say that the Republican balanced budget protects 100
percent of the Social Security surplus, reserves every penny of $161
billion, Social Security surplus dollars, so it is off limits to
spending for other purposes.
I would point out that last year in the President's budget he
proposed spending $57 billion of the Social Security Trust Fund
surplus. We said, no, preserving $137 billion total of Social Security
for Social Security. That is progress. We stopped the raid last year.
This year we are continuing to protect the Social Security Trust Fund,
protecting 100 percent of the Social Security surplus.
We also in our budget reflect the need and our goal of strengthening
Medicare and modernizing Medicare for the 21st century. We reject what
the President proposes when he proposes cutting Medicare by almost
$18.5 billion. We stand in opposition to those cuts. In fact, we want
to set aside $40 billion to ensure that our senior citizens in America
have the opportunity to have a modern Medicare program which provides
prescription drug coverage to help seniors better afford prescription
care.
Republicans believe that our Nation's seniors should not have to
choose between a trip to the grocery store or a trip to the pharmacy.
That is why we set aside $40 billion in our balanced budget to start a
brand new, for the first time, prescription drug coverage for our
Nation's seniors under Medicare.
We also implement a plan to pay off the Nation's credit card. In our
balanced budget that we adopted this week, we implement a plan which
retires the Nation's public debt by the year 2013. In fact, we pay off
$1 trillion of our Nation's public debt over the next 5 years under our
balanced budget.
As I said earlier, we already paid off well over $300 billion of our
Nation's public debt over the last 3 years.
Our balanced budget also promote tax fairness, tax fairness for
working women, tax fairness for working families, tax fairness for
farmers and small business people, as well as our seniors.
Our balanced budget, of course, implements our effort to wipe out the
marriage tax penalty, provides small business tax relief to help make
college and education more affordable for families, and also to make
our health care system more accessible.
We also strengthen support with our goal of strengthening our local
schools. We increase funding for elementary and secondary education by
9.4 percent, a significant boost in funding, more than three times the
rate of inflation for elementary and secondary education. And we also
make special education a priority, increasing funding for IDEA, which
is special education by $2 billion in our balanced budget.
And last, I would point out that our balanced budget also works to
strengthen our Nation's defenses. We have to recognize that the neglect
over the years of our Nation's defenses has caused a problem where we
are having a hard time retaining our talented men and women in our
Nation's military, those that we call upon to, of course, defend our
freedoms.
When we increase funding for our Nation's defense, we ensure that our
military men and women have the resources they need in order to
practice and have the supplies and train and also have quality housing
for themselves and their families and good pay.
I would point out, we provided a pay raise for our military men and
women for the first time in a long time this past year as part of our
balanced budget.
What does this mean? What does the Republican balanced budget mean
for our Nation's families? Well, in 13 years, we will have a debt-free
Nation. In 13 years, under our balanced budget, we will eliminate the
$3.6 trillion public debt. Public debt that was run up over 28 years of
deficit spending will be eliminated in about a total 15 years. By the
year 2013, under our balanced budget, we will wipe out our Nation's
public debt.
If you care about a more secure retirement, which I believe every
American does, they care about grandma and grandpa and want to ensure
that their mom and dad and, frankly, they themselves have a secure
retirement, we began the steps towards strengthening Social Security
this past year by stopping the raid on Social Security.
We continue that by preserving 100 percent of Social Security for
Social Security. It is the way it is supposed to be. We protect
America's retirement account. We also set aside funds to help ensure
that our seniors have affordable prescription drugs under Medicare.
If my colleagues care about education and strengthening our local
schools, and I find that that is a priority in the south suburbs of
Chicago, as well as the city, everyone wants better schools and wants
Congress to support our local schools, both public and private, and I
am proud to say that, under our balanced budget, we increase funding
for education by almost 10 percent and we make special education a
priority, targeting waste and fraud, and ensuring that savings goes
into the classroom to help our young people.
And if you care about health care and if you are anxious that we find
a cure for cancer and other life-threatening diseases, I am proud to
say that our balanced budget increases funding for basic research,
seeking cures for cancer, Alzheimer's, AIDS, and diabetes.
Last, as I mentioned earlier, when it comes to our Nation's defense,
we want
[[Page H2332]]
a safer world. And that is why defense is a priority under our balanced
budget.
I would like to take a few minutes now just to talk about some
specific items on our agenda of strengthening our local schools, making
the Tax Code more fair, paying down the national debt, and
strengthening Medicare and Social Security, by just talking about a
couple items of tax fairness, a couple of items that means so much to
millions of Americans. I am proud to say that this House, under the
leadership of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) has acted on
the need to bring fairness to our Tax Code.
I would like to take a minute and introduce a couple from my
district, Shad and Michelle Hallihan. They are public school teachers
in Joliet, Illinois. Shad and Michelle are living in Joliet. They are
in their mid to late twenties now. They just had a baby. And they, like
25 million married, working couples, suffer something called the
marriage tax penalty.
I have often been asked in the union halls and VFW posts and coffee
shops and grain elevators in the district that I represent, is it
right, is it fair that under our Tax Code married, working couples,
couples with two incomes where the husband and wife are both in the
workforce, pay higher taxes just because they are married?
And that is true. And I agree, it is not right. In fact, for Shad and
Michelle Hallihan, they suffer basically the average marriage tax
penalty of $1,400. Now, here in Washington, there are folks that scoff
and say, what is $1,400? No big deal, they probably do not need that
money. But for Shad and Michelle, $1,400 is a washer and a dryer, it is
a year's tuition at Joliet Junior College or community college in
Joliet, it is 3 months of day-care at the local child care center if
they want to use day-care for their newborn baby. It is real money for
real people like Shad and Michelle.
I am proud to say that this House passed overwhelmingly H.R. 6, the
Marriage Tax Elimination Act. It was supported by every Republican. I
am proud to say that 48 Democrats broke out from under the pressure of
their leadership and supported our effort to eliminate the marriage tax
penalty. That was a great day as we work to bring tax fairness.
And it broke my heart, in fact it probably broke the heart of 28
million married, working couples when the Senate today was prevented
from voting on the Marriage Tax Elimination Act. Unfortunately, Senate
Democrats decided they were against eliminating the marriage tax
penalty and they used parliamentary procedures to prevent our efforts
to wipe out the marriage tax penalty for Shad and Michelle Hallihan
from even coming up for a vote.
That is wrong. We want fairness for couples like Shad and Michelle
Hallihan, working couples who suffer the marriage tax penalty. And
there are 50 million individuals strong who suffer the marriage tax
penalty. And today they are wondering why the Senate Democrats stood in
the way and said no to eliminating the marriage tax penalty. That is
wrong.
My hope is they will change their tune and join with us and make
elimination of the marriage tax penalty a bipartisan priority. It
breaks my heart that they stood in the way of eliminating the marriage
tax penalty for people like Shad and Michelle Hallihan, two public
school teachers in Joliet, Illinois, who, just because they are
measure, suffer an almost $1,400 marriage tax penalty.
I am proud to say, though, that another effort, an effort that was
spearheaded by the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Mean the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Archer) as well as the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Hastert), the Speaker of the House, who during their
entire careers in the House have called for elimination of a penalty
that affects working seniors.
I have often had employers in the district that I represent who have
been anxious to hire senior citizens to work in their store or their
business and those seniors have said, I would like to but I am over 65,
I am between the ages of 65 and 70. If I go to work for you, I will
lose my social security.
When you think about that, today's seniors want to be active longer.
They want to work longer. In many cases, their retirement savings and
pension plans never worked out the way they had hoped. And so they want
to work or need to work.
Unfortunately, if they made more than $17,000 a year, and that is not
a lot of money today, but if they made more than $17,000 a year, they
lost one out of every $3 of the Social Security benefits were taken
away from them by the Social Security earnings limit penalty.
I am proud to say that this House and the Senate voted unanimously to
adopt legislation spearheaded by the gentleman from Texas (Chairman
Archer) and the gentleman interest Illinois (Mr. Hastert) which wiped
out the Social Security earnings limit so that seniors today can work
after they reach the age of 65, can keep their Social Security
benefits, particularly recognizing they already had a lifetime of
working and had already contributed over a lifetime of Social Security
and they got what they deserve thanks to our legislation.
I am proud to say that last Friday the President signed our bill. So
the Social Security earnings penalty is gone. The legislation is
retroactive, so it means that for seniors who have suffered the Social
Security earnings limit penalty that, if they make more than $17,000
this year, they will be able to keep 100 percent of the Social Security
benefits.
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That is good news, and good news for our working senior citizens. In
fact, there are 58,000 seniors in my home State of Illinois that will
benefit from elimination of the Social Security earnings penalty.
I would also like to take a moment just to talk briefly about what is
a big priority with many families in the district besides tax fairness.
They also talk about the need to strengthen our local schools and
ensure that our children today have the opportunity for a good quality
education. We are in the 21st century and of course there is no better
investment than ensuring that children today have an opportunity to
learn and have the skills in today's new economy. Under the Republican
balanced budget, we increase funding for education by 10 percent. We
have several principles that we are reflecting with our agenda this
year and implementing this balanced budget that increases funding for
education by almost 10 percent. Of course we make children America's
top priority by increasing investment in education. We increase our
investment in special education to help the disadvantaged by making
IDEA a priority. Principle number two is we believe that children have
a right to learn in drug-free, nonviolent schools. That is why we
passed legislation this week to increase enforcement of gun laws with
the passage of Project Exile which establishes mandatory minimum
sentencing for those who commit crimes and use guns to commit crimes.
We also intensify America's war on drugs, the crippling disease that
poses such a danger to America's future. In fact we passed legislation,
a special appropriations of $1.2 billion of extra money to fight the
war on drugs and keep more drugs from coming into our country. We also
believe that children need teachers and schools and programs that
demand and meet high standards. Of course this House has passed
legislation which provides increased accountability for local schools
to raise test scores and graduation rates, passage and enactment of
Straight As legislation. I know the Senate will be taking up this
legislation soon. We increase investment in teacher training to improve
discipline and education quality with the Teacher Empowerment Act which
we passed this past year. We also target waste, fraud and abuse in the
bureaucracy known as the Department of Education. Of course we want to
make sure that those dollars are saved and put back into the classroom
to help children learn. Last, our fourth principle is that children
must be better prepared. We have a new economy and as the chairman of
the Federal Reserve noted, one-third of all the new jobs that have been
created in the last 5 years have been generated by technology. So
clearly if we want our young people, the children today as well as our
adults who are making changes in their careers to be ready to find
good-paying
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jobs in today's new economy, we want to ensure that they understand
technology and know how to use technology in the workplace and at home.
That is why we work to give parents the right to save money for
educational opportunities for their child by expanding education
savings accounts. That is why we want to ensure that education savings
accounts can be used for elementary and secondary students, grade
school and junior high and high school students so they can hire
tutors, take special classes and, of course, maybe buy a better
textbook or maybe attend private or parochial school. That is a choice
our parents should be able to make. We also work to expand access to
student loans by increasing the maximum Pell grant award for low-income
students who qualify. I am proud to say that in the last 5 years, we
have more than doubled the amount of the Pell grants for low-income
students and today the Pell grant for low-income students is at its
highest level ever in history. We also are working to give private
companies incentives to donate technology to schools. Many schools,
whether poor or rich, vary in their technology that is available, the
type of computers, the type of equipment in the vocational programs and
of course the business community should be given an incentive to donate
surplus equipment, the latest technology they can provide to our local
schools to help ensure that our school children have access and
understand today's technology. That is why I want to draw attention to
legislation that I introduced today to help address what some call the
digital divide. I find that many educators, teachers and school
administrators and school board members back in Illinois, in the areas
that I represent in the city and the south suburbs and rural areas tell
me they notice a difference in the abilities and how students are able
to perform in the classroom between those who have access to computers
at home and those who do not. So that is a challenge. How can we
encourage our young people to have access to computers and learn how to
use the Internet at home and be ready for the workplace. I am proud to
say that several companies, including one which is a major employer in
the district that I represent, I have two Ford auto plants, the Chicago
Heights stamping plant and the Hegwish Taurus plant in the south side
of Chicago are both in the district that I represent, they provide
thousands of jobs. Ford is one of those companies that has taken the
lead in providing computers and subsidized Internet access for their
employees. If we think about that, that is pretty exciting, that
everyone, universal access to computers and Internet access for the guy
that pushes the broom on the shop floor, the janitor, the person
working on the assembly line, the middle manager in the office, all the
way up to the CEO, all have universal access under Ford's program.
American Airlines, Delta and Intel are also implementing these
programs. I commend those employers for what they are doing, providing
digital opportunity for families. Because of the efforts of companies
such as Ford and American and Delta and Intel, the children of their
employees will have computers at home helping them do their homework
and making plans. Of course also families can now stay in touch with
their friends and relatives all over the world via the Internet thanks
to their employers. It is a good idea, something we want to encourage
and support. I was shocked to learn that after this was implemented by
these employers that it was discovered that the employees were going to
suffer a higher tax. They were going to be taxed by the Treasury
Department because they were given a computer and subsidized Internet
access by their employers and that the IRS wanted to count that as
income and raise taxes on that laborer who works pushing the broom on
the shop floor at the Ford Taurus plant or the janitor or the middle
manager or the person who works on the line. Now, when we think about
it, other benefits provided by employers like Ford, their contribution
to the employees' pension fund or their contribution to their
employees' health care coverage under our Tax Code is not considered a
taxable employee benefit. It is tax free. You as a worker, we all as
workers are not taxed for our employer's contribution to our pension,
but unfortunately today's Tax Code would tax that Ford auto plant
worker in Chicago Heights, Illinois if he or she decides to take that
computer home and hook it up so they have Internet access provided
through their employer. I am proud to say that today we introduced the
Data Act, legislation which I have been joined in sponsoring by the
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), a Democrat on the Committee on Ways
and Means, I am a Republican on the Committee on Ways and Means, it is
a bipartisan initiative. Of course the Data Act, our goal is to
eliminate that digital divide, to create digital unity and digital
opportunity by ensuring that that Ford auto plant worker at the Hegwish
Taurus plant does not have to pay higher taxes because they are given a
computer and Internet access when their employer wants to help
eliminate the digital divide as we work to provide digital opportunity.
This is important legislation. I believe it deserves bipartisan
support. My hope is this legislation which will help improve
educational opportunity as well as digital opportunity for families,
millions of families in America, will receive bipartisan support. I
invite my colleagues to join with the gentleman from Georgia and myself
to join us in a bipartisan effort to wipe out the digital divide, to
provide digital opportunity and ensure that every working American,
every working family has universal access to computers and the digital
divide.
We have some big challenges before us. I am proud to say that this
Congress for the fourth year in a row is going to balance the budget
again. We are going to live within our means. I remember being called a
radical in 1995 because I wanted to balance the budget. I had friends
on the other side of the aisle who said that we were extreme and
radical because we wanted to balance the budget. I remember those days.
Now everybody takes credit for it. But the bottom line is over the last
6 years, we have changed how Washington works. I am really proud of
that, proud to say that we balanced the budget for the first time in 28
years and 3 years later we are going to balance it for the fourth year
in a row. We have all this extra money in the surplus that we are
arguing over what to do with it. That is progress. We cut taxes for the
middle class for the first time in 16 years. Not since Ronald Reagan
was President had the middle class received a tax cut to help them keep
more of what they earned. As I pointed out earlier, 3 million Illinois
children qualify for that $500 per child tax credit. That is $1.5
billion that stays in the Land of Lincoln rather than coming to the
District of Columbia to be spent here. I am proud to say that our
effort to change how welfare fails. I remember in 1994 more children
were living in poverty than ever before. We had higher rates of teenage
illegitimacy than ever before. Our welfare system was failing. I am
proud to say our efforts to emphasize work and family and
responsibility and give States like my home State of Illinois the
flexibility and discretion to design welfare programs that meet the
needs of the diverse communities that we represent, because we have to
recognize that Idaho is different than New York and South Dakota is
different than Florida and Chicago is different than Gary, Indiana. I
am proud to say that this welfare reform is working, cutting welfare
rolls in half and moving millions of Americans into the workplace. We
stopped the raid on Social Security. We are paying down the national
debt. That is progress. When we think about it, under the Republican
balanced budget, we protect 100 percent of the Social Security surplus,
walling off the Social Security trust fund. We stopped the raid last
year. We are going to protect that Social Security surplus again this
year and we will continue fighting into the future to ensure that
America's retirement account is protected. We want to strengthen
Medicare by modernizing Medicare for the 21st century and that includes
providing prescription drug coverage for America's seniors. That is why
we allocate $40 billion, frankly more than the President, and without
the President's Medicare cuts, in order to provide prescription drug
coverage for our seniors. We plan to pay off the Nation's public debt
by the year 2013. When we think about it, it is kind of like
refinancing your home mortgage. You used to have a 30-year
[[Page H2334]]
mortgage, now we have refinanced it to less than a 15-year mortgage. We
are going to pay it off a lot quicker under our balanced budget. We
promote tax fairness for families and children and seniors and farmers
and small businesspeople. And we eliminate the marriage tax penalty. We
wiped out the Social Security earnings penalty. That will help millions
of families like the Hallihans. That is again why we want to eliminate
that marriage tax penalty so that Shad and Michelle can keep that
$1,400 and spend it back home in Joliet on their family's needs. When
we think about it, $1,400, they have a new baby, that is almost 4,000
diapers that the Hallihans could have spent back in Joliet, Illinois.
That is probably a year's worth that they could have used to take care
of their child. We strengthen America's defense. We also strengthen
support for education and science.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have made a lot of progress, balancing the
budget, cutting taxes for the middle class, reforming our welfare
system, paying down the national debt, stopping the raid on Social
Security. Those are great achievements. I am proud of that. This year
we are going to continue that effort, our effort to strengthen Social
Security and Medicare to help our local schools, to bring fairness to
the tax code and to pay off that credit card by paying down the
national debt.
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