[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 7, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H657]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE PRESIDENT'S TAX CUT

  (Mr. THOMPSON of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, Americans deserve a tax cut, 
but they also deserve a Congress that carefully considers and balances 
all of our budget priorities, including Social Security, Medicare and 
debt reduction. Tomorrow we will vote on the first part of the 
President's tax cut proposal. This vote will be premature. The 
administration is not submitting the details of the budget until 
spring. Congress has yet to debate and adopt a budget resolution. 
Without a budget framework, we are forging into the great unknown. It 
is bad public policy and it is political hocus-pocus to pass any bill 
costing this much without first having a budget. Some are urging quick 
action in order to give the economy a boost. However, the economic 
prosperity of recent years has been due in part to fiscally 
conservative policies that, coupled with the hard work of the American 
people, turned deficits into surpluses and reduced our debt.
  I agree that taxpayers should benefit from the budget surplus, and I 
will support a tax cut but one that is fair and one that we can afford. 
We need to be fiscally responsible and we need a bipartisan budget 
before we can consider any specific spending measures or cuts. The 
American people deserve no less.

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