[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 30 (Thursday, March 8, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      BUDGET FIRST, TAX CUTS LATER

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I gladly join my colleagues to 
ask this Congress to do what every American family does, at least those 
who do keep their heads above the water, and that is provide a budget 
and then determine how much they can spend,--weekly, monthly and yearly 
for their families.
  The projection of over $5 trillion as a surplus is not a reality. We 
do not know what can happen tomorrow. And frankly, this fiscally 
irresponsible vote today does not answer the question of whether or not 
we have a budget to help students go to school with Pell Grants, to 
provide dollars for historically black colleges and Spanish-serving 
colleges or institutions of higher learning across the Nation or 
institutions serving native Americans.
  Do we have the Medicare guaranteed-drug prescription benefit that our 
seniors need? Or are we giving the 1 percent of Americans, the 
wealthiest, the highest tax cut without again determining what we need 
in order to provide for investments in our nation? Do we have enough 
money for our veterans, who have given of themselves, and the many 
families of veterans, and those families left behind by our service 
people who have given the ultimate sacrifice? We need a budget before 
we need a tax cut.

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