[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.

                              {time}  2115

  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.

                              {time}  2130

  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

[[Page H2333]]

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.

                          ____________________