[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 32 (Monday, March 12, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E334-E335]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ECONOMIC GROWTH AND TAX RELIEF ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 8, 2001

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this ill-
conceived tax plan. Why, Mr. Speaker, do I so strongly object to this 
plan?
  Let me count the ways:
  1. Process.--The Ways and Means Committee has rushed this tax cut 
through without allowing the Budget Committee to do its work.
  We have no idea how this cut meshes with our national priorities.
  As its name suggests, the Budget Committee is charged with coming up 
with our national budget, yet they and the Congress have not been given 
time to do so.
  Section 303 of the Congressional Budget Act states that the Congress 
may not pass tax cuts, or tax increases for that matter, without first 
passing a budget. Republican leadership is ignoring the law in order to 
rush this turkey through.
  Ignorance here is bliss. We haven't the least idea what the Congress 
is doing or how it affects the budget or the country.
  2. The Surplus.--This entire tax plan is based on projected 
surpluses. I hate to milk a dead cow, but these are merely 
projections--we have not collected the surplus yet!
  Any honest count shows that the President's numbers don't add up. If 
we take the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds out of the 
projected $5.6 trillion surplus, we are left with $2.5 trillion. Now, 
if we subtract $1 trillion for the proposed ``rainy day fund'' we are 
left with $1.5 trillion. Take $1.6 out for the tax cut and we are $100 
billion in the red. There is no money for helping hands, education, 
Medicare Reform, Social Security reform, debt reduction, increased 
defense spending, health insurance for the uninsured.
  We have been down this road before. In the 1980s we passed a reckless 
tax cut and a budget that did not add up. The result was that America 
was buried under a mountain of debt.
  3. Fairness.--This is clearly an unfair and unfairly crafted tax cut. 
As usual, my Republican colleagues are looking out for their fat cat 
buddies. The top 1 percent, those making more than $900,000/year, gets 
more than 43 percent of the tax cut. That is $868 billion to the 
wealthiest Americans. The remaining 99 percent of the taxpayers get the 
crumbs left on the table, with over 85% of the taxpayers getting a tax 
cut far less than the $1,600 the President promised.
  4. History.--Recall, if you will, the years 1981 and 1982. The 
Congress, at the urging of President Reagan, passed a massive tax cut. 
Within one year, when the debt began to pile up, we realized what a 
drastic mistake we had made. The next year, President Reagan signed a 
tax increase.
  George Santayana, whose writings and wisdom I have found to serve 
those in politics, counsels us: Those who cannot remember the past are 
condemned to repeat it. We must learn from the mistakes that fostered 
soaring inflation, and led us right into recession.
  In closing, I would remind my colleagues that we have been down this 
road before. This

[[Page E335]]

is not the correct path. Fiscal restraint should guide us, not the 
irresponsibility we saw in the 1980s. I would ask my colleagues to 
reject this rascality and vote no on this bill.

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