[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 13, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PRESIDENT'S TAX CUT IS PARTISAN ISSUE

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, last week, the House voted for the 
President's signature proposal, a cut in income taxes heavily tilted 
towards millionaires and billionaires.
  Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Gilmore highlighted my no 
vote as evidence, he says, that I do not want to see lower taxes for my 
constituents.
  My district in Northeast Ohio is not heavily tilted towards the 
millionaires and billionaires whom President Bush and the Republican 
Party Chair Gilmore want to help. Most of the people I represent are 
middle-income people or lower-income working families working their way 
up.
  The right kind of tax cut would mean something to them. 
Unfortunately, that is not what the President delivered.
  Medicare means something to the people in my district. The 
President's plan uses an accounting trick to siphon funds for the 
Medicare trust fund. Medicare cannot afford that. The elderly people in 
my district cannot afford that.
  Mr. Speaker, tax cuts are not a partisan issue, but this tax cut is. 
If the President would work with us on a tax cut that would benefit all 
Americans, we could easily pass one in this body, but I could not 
support a bill which gives tax cuts to the wealthiest people, robs 
Medicare and fails to pay down the national debt.

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