[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 6, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S1030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                TAX CUTS

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I will say to the majority leader that 
I think his last set of remarks may be the basis of bipartisanship 
between the two of us. We will keep this civil.
  I will also say to the majority leader and others that I can't wait 
for the debate because he focuses on the $30,000-a-year family. But 
anybody who looks at the distribution of benefits of President Bush's 
tax cut plan will see--I don't know--40 percent of the benefit going to 
the top 1 percent of the top 5 percent, which is ridiculous. It is like 
Robin Hood in reverse. Yes, we will make sure there is a set of tax 
credits to go to middle-income and working-income families. Absolutely.
  I will point out one more time--and I didn't hear the majority leader 
respond to this at all--I want to hold President Bush accountable for 
these numbers--a $3.1 trillion non-Social Security surplus becomes 2.6 
when you put Medicare trust money aside, which we will do. It becomes 
$2 trillion when extending tax credits, and we also provide payments to 
farmers and other people, which we will do without doubt. The tax cuts 
go from $1.6 trillion to $2 trillion, when you now have to pay the 
interest on the debt, when you are not paying the debt down, in which 
case I want to know where are the resources to leave no child behind.
  I say to the majority leader that I am more than willing to debate 
after we provide tax cuts for middle-income working families, whether 
or not we, in fact, provide some benefits so elderly people can afford 
prescription drugs versus tax cuts for the wealthy, whether we can 
expand health care coverage versus tax cuts, or whether or not we will 
live up to the words of leaving no child behind and make investment in 
child care and in Head Start and in our schools and fund the IDEA 
program versus tax cuts for the wealthy.
  I think the message President Bush is trying to convey and the 
majority leader echoes to the people in the country--I all of a sudden 
find myself being a fiscal conservative--is that we can do it all. 
There is no free lunch. We can't do it all. We can't have tax cuts 
disproportionally to the wealthy, erode the revenue base, and at the 
same time say we are going to leave no child behind; we are going to 
make an investment in education; we are going to make an investment in 
covering prescription drugs for the elderly. We can't do both. The 
people in the country are smart enough to figure that out, and I hope 
Democrats will engage this administration. The sooner the better. I 
don't think we need to wait one more day to have this debate.
  Senators and President Bush: You cannot proclaim the vision and the 
value of leaving no child behind and keep this on a tin cup budget. If 
we are real about this, we will make the investment in the intellect, 
the skills, and the character of our children.
  This budget is not real. It does not make that commitment to leaving 
no child behind.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.

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