[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 73 (Thursday, May 24, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S5606]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     FINAL PASSAGE OF THE TAX BILL

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, this is a sad day for the U.S. Senate 
and America's economic future. Yesterday we rushed through an 
unbalanced, backloaded, overbloated tax-cut that we literally cannot 
afford, that runs a substantial risk of driving us back into the ditch 
of deficits and higher interest rates, and in the end could affect our 
long-term prosperity which we have worked so hard to build. And for 
what purpose? To meet the arbitrary deadline of passing a bill by 
Memorial Day.
  This bill and the whole process for considering it is a case study in 
irresponsibility, not just fiscally but governmentally. By squandering 
the surplus this way, we are squandering an historic opportunity to 
meet a number of national needs and to strengthen our economic security 
in the coming years. We lost an opportunity to pass not just a tax plan 
but a prosperity plan, geared to long-term economic growth. We lost an 
opportunity to pay down the debt and keep interest rates low.
  We may well have lost an opportunity to pass a strong prescription 
drug benefit and strengthen the long-term stability of Medicare and 
Social Security for the retirement of the baby boom generation. And we 
may have lost an opportunity to make strategic investments in 
education, job training, scientific research--all of which we know are 
critical to expanding the winners' circle in this innovation economy. 
In short, we lost an opportunity to make the surplus work for us. 
Instead, we have given it all away in a tax cut tilted to give the most 
help to those who need it least.
  I support tax cuts, and have voted for tax cuts, but they should be 
cuts we can afford. Some of the tax reductions for which I have 
advocated were included in this bill as part of the manager's 
amendment. Specifically, this amendment makes the R&D tax credit 
permanent, an issue on which I have been working for many years, makes 
a start on college tuition deductibility, and accelerates the wage 
credits for Round II Enterprise Zones, a program I have supported from 
its inception. These provisions, however, do not make up for the fiscal 
irresponsibility and lack of vision this bill represents.
  I cautioned earlier this year that ten years from now, we will be 
judged by the decisions we make today. People will ask, did we fully 
understand the awesome changes taking place in our economy and in our 
society? Did we create a plan to assure our ongoing prosperity? Did we 
direct our unprecedented surpluses into investments with the greatest 
returns? Did we give our workers the tools they needed to seize the 
opportunities an innovation economy offers? And, were we guided by the 
fiscal discipline and values that had brought us so far in the past 
decade? Much to my chagrin, I am no longer confident that these 
questions will be answered affirmatively.
  Indeed, we have passed a bill that relies heavily on a surplus whose 
size six months down the road is unclear, to say nothing of its 
dimensions ten years from now. The inflated size of this tax cut may 
well force us to set discretionary spending at levels that don't keep 
pace with inflation. We may be forced to return to the fiscally-
destructive practice of deficit spending by borrowing from the Social 
Security and Medicare trust funds. Additionally, this tax cut pays 
nothing but lip service to reducing the national debt, the very step 
that has proven to be so valuable to the health of our economy in 
recent years by keeping the cost of capital and interest rates low. In 
fact, this bill crowds our ability to devote a single dollar, aside 
from funds already committed to the Medicare and Social Security Trust 
Funds, toward debt reduction.
  I am especially concerned that the idea of an immediate economic 
stimulus has been abandoned. During the debate on the budget resolution 
last month, we Democrats argued that the economy needed a jump-start 
and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle agreed to adopt a 
stimulus package. Our plan was fair. It was fast. And it was fiscally 
responsible. It was fair because it was directed at every American who 
paid any taxes--payroll or income. It was fast because it would go into 
effect immediately, with rebate checks being cut within weeks. And not 
least of all, it was fiscally responsible because it fit into a 
balanced budget that did not spend money we do not have. Unfortunately, 
the so-called stimulus included in the tax bill we just passed does 
none of those things.
  This bill may prove to be nothing but a one trick pony, and, if so, 
it's a bad trick to play on the American people. No matter the well-
intentioned claims of my colleagues, this bill promises something we 
cannot deliver. It abandons fiscal discipline, fails to invest the 
wealth our Nation has earned over the past eight years, and may send us 
back down the road to debt, higher interest rates, and higher 
unemployment. It is not what the American people deserve, nor is it 
what they expected it to be.

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