[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 14, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H881-H882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PRESIDENT BUSH'S TAX CUT
(Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, the President's tax cut plan is not only
contrary to the goals and the needs of the American people, but it
actually flies in the face of the facts of the promises we made here in
the 106th Congress.
The fiscal year 2000 budget resolution, do Members remember that? It
passed the House 221 to 208 on an almost entirely party-line vote. This
budget resolution specifically promised that tax cuts would focus on
``the lower- and middle-income taxpayers.'' The Republican majority
promised that Congress will not approve ``any tax legislation'' that
would provide substantially more benefits to the top 10 percent of the
taxpayers than to the remaining 90 percent. That is right in the budget
resolution.
What happened to the promise? The tax plan offers substantially more
benefits, 60 percent of the President's tax
[[Page H882]]
refund, to the top 10 percent of the American taxpayers. In fact, this
tax cut returns 43 percent, nearly half of its benefits, to the top 1
percent of the earners.
Why are my Republican colleagues now abandoning the promise that they
made to the low- and middle-class folks of America?
____________________