[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 35 (Thursday, March 15, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2339-S2343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE BUDGET AND TAX CUTS
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, on February 28, 2001, President Bush sent to
the Congress his fiscal year 2002 budget outline entitled, ``A
Blueprint for New Beginnings.'' Sadly, this budget is a blueprint for
putting tax cuts for the wealthy at the front of the line, above all of
the needs of the American people.
Now I say to my colleagues, caution, we have not yet seen the real
budget. The President's budget will be sent up to the Hill in the early
part of April. We have not seen it yet. So I would suggest to all of us
that we go slowly until we see the fine print in the President's
budget.
What we have seen thus far is a mere blueprint entitled ``A Blueprint
for New Beginnings.'' But I say again, this is a blueprint for putting
tax cuts for the wealthy at the front of the line, above all other
needs of the American people.
The President's Budget allocates 80 percent, over $2 trillion of the
$2.5 trillion non-Social Security, non-Medicare surplus, on tax cuts.
Two trillion dollars. Does anyone know how long it would take to
count $1 trillion at the rate of $1 per second? It would take 32,000
years--32,000 years--to count $1 trillion at the rate of $1 per second.
The President's budget allocates 80 percent, over $2 trillion--that
would
[[Page S2340]]
take 64,000 years to count at the rate of $1 per second--of the $2.5
trillion non-Social Security/non-Medicare surplus on tax cuts. I
believe the President is not on the same page--I say this respectfully
about the President--with the American people.
I keep hearing this said: ``Give the money back to the people. Give
the people their money back.'' Well, we are going to give a few of the
rich people in this country a lot of money back, if this tax cut is
passed as proposed. Don't we also owe the people clean water? Don't we
also owe the people modern highways, safe bridges, a reliable energy
supply, and modern school buildings for their taxes? It is their money.
Yes. It is also their school buildings, also their highways, their
bridges, their debt, the public debt. Isn't it true that this country's
infrastructure, its supply of clean water, its sewers, its
transportation capabilities, its energy delivery systems are vitally
important to a healthy economy?
These things are vital to support thriving businesses. They enhance
productivity. They provide jobs. They are basic to the quality of life
for our people. A strong infrastructure is basic to a strong economy.
We can't continue to expect the performance of an eight-cylinder
economy if we refuse to clean the spark plugs and tune up the engine.
Our Nation's infrastructure is fast becoming a Model T, riding on
retread tires. Yet, this administration seems to believe that the old
buggy can continue to keep rolling with no maintenance and no repairs.
I submit that putting a few dollars back into the pockets of the
rich--and I have nothing against a person being rich; I wish I could be
rich; that was never one of my fondest dreams, never one of my goals in
life to become rich--is no substitute for addressing crumbling schools,
outdated highways, and dirty drinking water, and on and on and on. Yes,
it is the people's money, but it is also the people's dirty drinking
water. It is also the people's crumbling schools.
These things are the first responsibility of Government, and they are
what we owe the people for their taxes. They are things the people
cannot provide for themselves. I was a Member of Congress when
President Eisenhower advocated legislation establishing the Interstate
Highway System. I voted for that. I have voted for the taxes to build
it. These are things the people cannot provide for themselves. People
cannot provide interstate highways, a national system of highways for
themselves.
By putting tax cuts at the head of the line, the President does not
leave enough of the surpluses--although he may say otherwise; he may be
advised otherwise, but it is not true--to adequately fund programs that
meet the needs of the Nation.
You people out there watching through those electronic eyes, I am
talking about you. You are the taxpayers of the country. It is your
children in the dilapidated schools. It is your children who are in the
crowded classrooms.
The President's budget proposes to increase discretionary spending by
just 4 percent, barely enough to adjust for inflation. Much of this
increase, however, is for defense programs. I don't complain about
national defense. I have helped to build this country's defenses with
my votes and with my taxes, too. While defense programs are increased
$3.1 billion, which is 1 percent above baseline--and baseline is last
year's appropriation plus inflation, so the President's budget provides
for 1 percent above that, above last year's budget plus inflation and
then add another 1 percent; that is for defense--while defense programs
are increased $3.1 billion above baseline for fiscal year 2002,
nondefense programs are cut $5.9 billion or 1.6 percent below baseline,
baseline being last year's appropriation, plus inflation. The
President's budget is not going to add plus inflation. He is going to
cut below baseline for nondefense programs.
Senators, wait until you see this President's budget. Wait until you
can see the fine print. In revolutionary war terms, ``wait until you
see the whites of their eyes.'' I say to my colleagues on both sides of
the aisle, wait until you see the fine print in this President's
budget. When are we going to see it? It will be after April Fools' Day,
sometime in early April.
The Senate Budget Committee has estimated that domestic programs that
are not Presidential initiatives--get that, domestic programs that are
not Presidential initiatives--will be cut by 6.6 percent in fiscal year
2002. Most of these cuts are not yet specified in the budget for
review. They are not in that blue outline about which I am talking.
This is what we have to go on up to now, ``a Blueprint for New
Beginnings.'' I have read this thing from cover to cover, as they say,
but that is not it yet. That is not the fine print. This is just the
bare skeleton. You can see through it, as Paul said, ``through a glass
darkly.''
After 2002, discretionary spending grows with inflation, not
population.
This means we will be spending less on man, woman, and child in
America. Despite the fact that the Census Bureau is predicting that the
country's population will grow by 8.9 percent by 2010--that is not far
away--the President's budget provides no resources--none--to deal with
that growth.
I have been around a long time. I can remember that when I graduated
from high school, there were 130 million people in this country. When I
was born, there were 100 million, in 1917. Today, there are 280
million. The population, we hear, will grow by 8.9 percent by 2010. The
President's budget provides no resources--none--to deal with that
growth. Nor does the budget include resources to respond to a
recognized long-term infrastructure deficit in this country. Over the
next 5 years, nondefense programs are cut $24.5 billion below baseline.
So, Senators, before we get on board for this colossal tax cut for
the wealthy, just back off a little bit, just hold on and say, whoa,
let's wait and see the fine print. Let's see how that affects the
people back home, the people who send you here.
The President calls the surplus ``the people's money.'' Have you
heard that expression? You are going to keep on hearing it a lot. And
he is right, it is the people's money. And we are elected by the people
to make the right choices, the disciplined choices, about the use of
their money.
The Wall Street Journal of March 8, 2001, contained the results of a
recent poll that asked this question:
If taxes are cut this year, would you prefer a large tax
cut or a smaller tax cut and one of the following:
I will read that again:
If taxes are cut this year, would you prefer a large tax
cut or a smaller tax cut and one of the following:
It goes on to enunciate as ``one of the following'': A smaller tax
cut and more education. So would you prefer a large tax cut or a
smaller tax cut and more education funding? Which would you rather
have: A large tax cut, the so-called $1.6 trillion tax cut the
President is talking about; or would you prefer a smaller tax cut and
more education funding? Well, 64 percent of adults responded, yes, they
prefer a smaller tax cut and more education funding; 64 percent
preferred that against 30 percent who preferred a large tax cut.
Now the next bars in the graph indicate a response to this question:
Would you prefer a large tax cut or a smaller tax cut and more Social
Security funding? The chart shows that 65 percent of the respondents
answered they would prefer a smaller tax cut and more Social Security
funding. Only 29 percent preferred to have the large tax cut.
Then the third category: Would you prefer a large tax cut--let's say
the President's proposed tax cut of $1.6 trillion--although it is
growing every day--or would you prefer a smaller tax cut and paying
down the national debt? Well, the respondents answered that question,
and 60 percent said they prefer to pay down the national debt; 32
percent preferred the large tax cut.
So, again, I will say the President is not on the same page with the
American people.
We have had a series of hearings in the Senate Budget Committee that
have exposed a number of important, unanswered questions about the
President's budget. His tax cuts are based on highly uncertain 10-year
surplus estimates. The Congressional Budget Office, which prepared
those surplus estimates, projects that there is only a 10-percent
chance their surplus estimates for 2006 will be correct. The CBO
witness testified before the committee that the probability of the 10-
year surplus estimates coming through shrinks
[[Page S2341]]
even further by 2011. Yet the costs of the President's tax cut proposal
explode in the outyears--meaning the years 2007 through 2011. Over 72
percent of the revenue losses from the tax cuts occur between fiscal
years 2007 and 2011, and these cuts total at least $344 billion per
year, beginning in fiscal year 2011.
Let me say that again. If we take a microscope and look at these
projections concerning surpluses and put them alongside the tax cut
proposal, we find that the probability of the 10-year surplus estimate
coming through shrinks. After having said there is only a 10-percent
chance that that surplus estimate for 2006 will be correct, it goes on
to say that the probability of the surplus estimate coming through
shrinks even further by 2011.
Yet, on the other side of the coin, the costs of the President's tax
cut proposal explode in the outyears. They are backloaded, you see--the
years 2007 through 2011. Over 72 percent of the revenue losses from the
tax cuts occur between fiscal years 2007 and 2011, and these cuts total
at least $344 billion per year beginning in fiscal year 2011.
Let me ask you, the public out there, as I look through these
electric eyes here: If we can't project 24 hours in advance that the
stock market is going to drop 436 points--in 1 day, within 24 hours--if
we can't project 24 hours ahead that we are going to have this big loss
in the stock market of 436 points, how can we project 10 years out and
say the surpluses will be this much, or that much, or some other
amount? We are living in a fool's paradise when we gamble on such
estimates.
My good friend, Howard Baker, referred to the Reagan tax cut of 1981
as a riverboat gamble. That is what they were talking about. Apparently
gambling is not out of style. This is another riverboat gamble.
This administration's plan would sap the budget of the resources
needed to solve the Social Security and Medicare crises that loom just
over the horizon due to the impending retirement of the baby boom
generation. The baby boom generation--it just started about the time I
got into politics, about 1946. That was the beginning. So the baby boom
generation will really be retiring about 10 years from now.
Currently, 45 million people receive Social Security and that number
is expected to grow to 60 million in the year 2015. Yet the Social
Security trustees estimate that Social Security expenditures will
exceed receipts in 2015. Currently, 40 million people receive Medicare,
and the number is expected to grow to 46 million in 2010. Yet the
Medicare trustees estimate that Medicare expenditures will exceed
receipts in 2010. That is just 9 years away.
Despite the 407-2 vote in the House last month and similar votes in
the House and Senate last year to protect the Medicare hospital
insurance trust fund, the budget does not even project the existing
$526 billion Medicare surplus for Medicare, instead putting it into a
fantasy reserve, an Alice in Wonderland reserve, a fantasy reserve, to
be used for ``unspecified purposes.'' Now, does that cause you to
remember anything about the Reagan tax cut in 1981 where they had a $44
billion magic asterisk--$44 billion magic asterisk. Those were
``unspecified'' cuts. Nobody knew what cuts. But really in the minds of
the planners back then they had Social Security in mind, Social
Security and Medicare. That is what they had in mind. But they didn't
quite have the nerve to come out and say so. So they just put a little
asterisk down at the bottom of the page. The ``magic asterisk'' it was
called.
We are seeing the same thing over again. History does repeat itself.
The American people expect the President--here is what they expect the
President to do--to put forward a serious, disciplined budget that
addresses their long-term needs. That is what they expect. Yet the
President is offering the people candy first, putting tax cuts in front
of the hard work of fixing Social Security and Medicare. That is hard
work. That is going to take some political capital, and politicians
will have to expend some of that political capital when it comes to
fixing Social Security and Medicare. But just hold on a moment, we will
wait on that. Put the tax cuts first. We will give them the candy
first.
It is very disturbing that Congress is moving ahead on the tax cut in
the absence of a complete budget. A few days ago, the House of
Representatives passed the first of several bills that cut taxes. The
first bill alone cuts taxes by almost $1 trillion; yet the House has
not taken up a budget resolution. We do not even have a full budget, as
I said earlier, from the President. Most of the details of the
President's budget are not expected to be sent to Congress until after
the debate on the budget resolution next month.
The President is telling the American people, in essence, let's serve
up the candy now and put off the tough questions on what programs will
be cut until later. Instead of a menu designed to nourish the Nation
with the vitamins needed for healthy growth, I can see only a sweet
snack of tax candy.
The President's tax cut proposal could put us back on the course
toward deficits, returning us to the days when we had to spend the
Social Security surplus for day-to-day Federal operations. By
undermining fiscal discipline, this could return us to the days of high
interest rates, making the average wage earner's mortgage, education,
and automobile more expensive.
We should not return to an era of deficits like the 1980s. We have
been down the road of big tax cuts and promised surpluses, and we ended
up where? In the ditch.
When President Reagan presented his first budget to the Congress, he,
too, proposed big tax cuts and future surpluses. There are not many in
this town who remember that President Reagan's 5-year budget plan
projected surpluses for fiscal year 1984, $1 billion; fiscal year 1985,
$6 billion; and fiscal year 1986, $28 billion. Those were the projected
surpluses. Congress passed a tax cut bill that reduced revenues by over
$2 trillion from fiscal year 1981 to fiscal year 1991.
Did the Reagan administration projections of surpluses come to pass?
No. In fact, precisely the opposite occurred. The fiscal year 1984
deficit was not a surplus of $1 billion but a deficit of $185 billion.
The fiscal year 1985 deficit was not a surplus of $6 billion, but a
deficit of $212 billion. And the fiscal year 1986 deficit was not a
surplus of $28 billion, which we were promised, but it was a deficit of
$221 billion.
That was an error, that was just a small error amounting to $653
billion over just 3 years.
How much is $1 billion? $1 billion is a dollar for every minute since
Jesus Christ was born. That is $1 billion. It doesn't sound like that
much when it is jingling in your pocket, or you are making big promises
to the taxpayer. But it is $1 for every minute since Jesus Christ was
born. We are talking about an error not of $1 billion but of $663
billion over 3 years.
The President asked his Secretary of Defense to undertake a thorough
review of the defense needs of the Nation. I am for that review. I
support the President's proposal. As he stressed in his address to the
joint session last month, he wanted a policy first, with a budget to
follow. In fact, the President said, these are his words ``our defense
vision will drive our defense budget. Not the other way around.''
It makes sense to me. I also think the President should have the same
philosophy for our domestic needs. Our domestic vision should drive our
domestic budget, not the other way around. If the defense review
results in further proposed increases for defense, the budget is not
clear on whether those increases will have to be absorbed within the 4-
percent increase proposed in the budget. If that is the case, domestic
programs, which are already $5.9 billion below baseline, will have to
be cut even more. Already, this budget leaves infrastructure needs,
education, science, technology, and many other domestic programs,
behind. This budget continues to let the underpinnings of our economy
slide into disrepair and neglect. No help is on the way in this budget
blueprint.
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, one-third of
the nation's roads are in poor or mediocre condition, costing American
drivers an estimated $5.8 billion and contributing to as many as 13,800
highway fatalities annually.
As of 1998, 29 percent of the Nation's bridges were structurally
deficient or functionally obsolete. It is estimated that it will cost
$10.6 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies.
[[Page S2342]]
Capital spending on mass transit must increase 41 percent just to
maintain the system in its present condition.
Airport congestion delayed nearly 50,000 flights in one month alone
last year.
Seventy-five percent of our nation's school buildings are inadequate
to meet the needs of schoolchildren. The average cost of capital
investment needed is $3,800 per student.
The nation's 54,000 drinking water systems face an annual shortfall
of $11 billion needed to replace facilities that are nearing the end of
their useful life and to comply with Federal water regulations.
In 1955 I traveled around the world in an old Constellation. We
traveled for 68 days, I believe it was. They call that a junket these
days. We went to the Middle East and we saw people there carrying their
water around in what appeared to be gasoline cans.
We traveled around the world. I saw the Taj Mahal; I saw the pyramids
of Egypt; I saw many beautiful sites in many lands. But the most
beautiful site I saw on the whole trip was the little red lights
flashing on the top of the Washington Monument on the night I returned.
I was able to go to the house, turn the faucet, and get a drink of
good, clean water. I had been in many countries where we couldn't drink
the water--couldn't drink the water. So we take our blessings for
granted--clean water. Yet there are places in this country where the
water is not clean. There are places in the great cities of this
country where the water is not clean. And some sewer systems are 100
years old or over 100 years old. Currently, there is a $12 billion
annual shortfall in funding for infrastructure needs in this category.
Give the people back their money? Yes. Remember, it is their dirty
water, also; their sewer systems. Right here in the District of
Columbia, take a look at the potholes. Read about what happens to the
sewer system in this city.
There are more than 2,100 unsafe dams in the United States. There
were 61 reported dam failures in the past 2 years.
Since 1990, actual capacity has increased only 7,000 megawatts per
year, an annual shortfall of 30 percent. More than 10,000 megawatts of
capacity must be added each year until 2008 to keep up with the 1.8
percent annual growth in demand.
President Bush's budget does not respond to these needs.
The Bush budget could leave billions of dollars of gas tax receipts
sitting in the Highway Trust Fund rather than helping us develop our
highways, bridges and mass transit systems for the 21st century.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, less than half of
the miles of roadway in rural America are considered to be in good or
very good condition. Of the road miles in rural America, 56.5 percent
are in fair to poor condition. The people's money? Yes. Whose highway?
The people's highway. Conditions are even worse in urban America, where
64.6 percent of the road miles are considered to be in some level of
disrepair, and only 35.4 percent of urban roadways are considered to be
in good or very good condition.
Violence pervades our schools. Our students score poorly when pitted
against students from other countries. Seventy percent of our 4th
graders have difficulty even reading. The people's money? Yes, it is
the people's money. But we are talking about the people's children.
While the President takes credit for proposing an 11.5 percent increase
in education programs, the Education Secretary has testified that the
actual increase is just 5.9 percent. The President's increase of 5.9
percent just doesn't make the grade.
A study by the National Center for Education Statistics, in June,
2000, the ``Condition of America's Public School Facilities: 1999,''
estimated that the total cost of putting the nation's public schools in
good repair is $127 billion. The people's money? Yes, it is the
people's money. But it is the people's school buildings. A 1994 General
Accounting Office study put the cost of school renovations at $112
billion.
Of the schools surveyed in the more recent study, half reported at
least one building feature, such as heating, plumbing, roofs, or
sprinklers and fire alarms, in less than adequate condition, and nearly
half reported at least one environmental factor, such as ventilation,
security or indoor air quality, in unsatisfactory condition. The
average age of a public school is 40 years; the functional age, that
is, the age since the last major renovation, is 16 years. Yet the Bush
budget proposes to eliminate the Federal program that is specifically
designed for renovating schools.
Our needs for clean water projects are growing. Wastewater treatment
plants prevent pollutants from reaching America's rivers, lakes, and
coastlines. They prevent water-borne disease, keep our waters safe for
fishing and swimming, and preserve our natural resources like the
Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes, and Colorado River. However, the President
proposes only level funding for the national program and he proposes to
eliminate about $350 million of projects that were earmarked by
Congress last year.
We have learned that just through this outline, this blue book, ``A
Blueprint For New Beginnings.'' That is the large print, and not all
the large print. Wait until we see the budget; just wait until we see
the small print. Then I will make another speech, if it is the Good
Lord's will, and I am still here.
Energy programs are proposed for over $700 million in cuts this year,
including steep cuts in programs designed to promote energy
independence, such as energy efficiency and renewable programs and
fossil fuel programs.
The President's Budget proposes cuts below baseline of 2 percent for
the National Science Foundation, 2 percent for NASA and 7 percent for
the Department of Energy. In the March 9, 2001 New York Times, Dr. D.
Allan Bromley stated that the major driver of our nation's economic
success is scientific innovation. He stressed that many economists
attribute much of America's 1990's boom to increased productivity
stemming, in large part, from scientific research. He concluded that
the cuts proposed in the budget are, ``a self-defeating policy''. Dr.
Bromley was the science and technology adviser to President George H.
W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. I could not agree with him more.
What are we leaving to America's children? How much longer can we
afford to ignore the infrastructure needs of this nation? If we hand
them a worn out 19th century infrastructure which cannot support a
vital economy, what do we tell them.
We can tell them: We gave your parents a tax cut. That is what we can
tell our children.
I am not against tax cuts. I want to see us wipe out this marriage
penalty that subsidizes the cohabitation of people who are not married.
I want to wipe that out, or at least cut it. So I am for some tax cut.
But if we leave our children with dirty water, antiquated schools,
poor mass transit, rusting bridges, what do we tell them? We gave your
parents a tax cut. Can't you be happy with that?
If the projections are wrong, and we go back in debt, bequeathing our
children nothing tangible except red ink and interest payments, will
they really appreciate the government's generosity in giving their
parents a tax cut?
Instead, as I look at the President's budget priorities we haven't
seen them up close; we just see them through a glass--and that is what
a budget is, a statement of priorities--I see a plan that focuses on an
enormous tax cut instead of supporting efforts to promote school
safety. After the school shooting in California last week, one of the
students commented that he believed that the presence of a police
officer who is regularly on campus helped to save lives when the
gunfire broke out. The ``COPS in Schools'' program has been a valuable
resource for students, teachers and school administrators. It has
helped to stop would-be violent acts at schools before they start. Yet
the Bush administration's budget proposes to ``redirect''--.
Remember that word ``redirect.'' I find that word in this so-called
``A Blueprint for New Beginnings.'' I find that word ``redirect'' in
that blueprint more than once. It is an interesting word. See how it is
used.
I have strong concerns about the word redirect--to redirect $1.5
billion from Department of Justice grant programs like COPS. The
President is not
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on the same page with the American people.
Mr. President, we are a nation of dreamers. We dream of a better life
for all of our people. We dream of a brighter future for all of our
children. We are inspired by a challenge--we rise to it, we embrace its
promise, we enjoy righting wrongs, breaking new ground, achieving the
impossible. When our collective will is engaged, and we agree to put
resources behind a challenge, the United States can be an awesome force
for remarkable progress and for good in the world. We need leadership
to fully galvanize our attention. Yet, when that combination of
American determination and drive is motivated by a vision, great things
can be achieved. Witness space exploration and putting a man on the
moon; witness beating the old Soviet Union in the arms race; witness
mapping the human genome for which the distinguished Senator from New
Mexico, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mr. Domenici,
is to be given great credit. This is something that originated in the
brain of a Member of this body to support this research.
Witness the mapping of the human genome and all of the other mind-
boggling advances in science and medicine over the last 50 years.
But, where is the leadership and inspiration for this new millennium?
I find none in the trumpeting of a tax cut, and this tax cut in
particular. I see no call to make the world a better place for our
children. I see no appeal to mount a massive effort to beat cancer or
aids. I see no drive to make our children the best educated in the
world. I hear no determination to make us energy independent.
I hear nothing about a Moon shot to make our Nation energy
independent. I hear nothing about a Moon shot to make our children the
best educated children. I hear nothing about a Moon shot to conquer
cancer. I was here when Sputnik burst forth from the headlines of the
Nation's newspapers and the world's newspapers. I heard John F. Kennedy
say, ``We are going to put a man on the Moon,'' and we did that. We put
a man on the Moon and brought him back safely to Earth again.
Yes. We made the world safer for democracy. We participated in two
world wars. We had the dream of the Marshall Plan. We had the dream
finally culminating in the breaking down and the tearing down of the
Berlin Wall.
We remember the Berlin airlift. President Harry Truman was determined
to break that Soviet ring that had Berlin enclosed. We didn't back away
from that challenge.
The Interstate Highway System was another dream.
We hear no determination to do great things today. The centerpiece of
this administration is not a dream. It is not a great dream. It is not
a great call for a Moon shot to beat back the ravages of cancer,
tuberculosis, sugar diabetes, and the other diseases that confront our
people. We hear only a call for huge tax cuts for the wealthy.
I hear no appeal to American pride to repair our dilapidated system
of transportation. Our roads, our bridges, our mass transit systems,
our airports, our national parks should be the envy of the world. What
has happened to our pride in American know how, American skills,
American research, and America as a show place to inspire visitors to
our shores with the tangible achievements of this great experiment in
representative democracy? Are we to forgot our glory days? Are we to
settle for smaller dreams, and more limited horizons.
Is this what we are going to settle for? Do we tell our children that
we didn't want to go for bigger things because we gave their parents a
tax cut?
I hear no call to greatness in this peddling of massive tax cuts. I
hear only a veiled appeal to greed and to distrust of government.
The President is not on the same page with the American people. The
American people, according to these polls, are not asking for a refund.
They are not asking for a refund. They want their government to lead.
They want their government to inspire. They want their government to do
the great things for the country, the very things they pay their taxes
for. That is what they want. In short, they are not asking for their
money back. They want their money's worth. And a king's ransom of a tax
cut will be worth nothing to them if it shortchanges our Nation's
children and downsizes our dreams.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Fitzgerald). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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