[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 74 (Friday, May 25, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5675-S5677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            A MOMENTOUS WEEK

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about some of the 
activities that are going on right now. We have had a momentous week in 
the Senate. We passed a tax relief bill so that every working American 
would get relief from the burden of taxation. We passed a budget that 
is responsible stewardship of the people's money.
  I stress people's money because one of the things I think is very 
important is that we remember the money people work so hard to earn is 
not the Government's money. It is what people send to the Government to 
do the functions of Government and that we have the responsibility to 
assure it is wisely spent and what isn't necessary for the functions of 
Government is sent back to the people who earn the money. We believe 
that people can choose how to spend their money better than a big 
Government program can do.
  So we have passed the budget resolution that provides for tax relief 
for hard-working Americans. It would be $1.35 trillion over a 10-year 
period. It would pay down the debt to the maximum extent possible 
without paying a premium for early payment of outstanding Treasury 
issues. And I think that is a very important component because paying 
down the debt frees up more money that is going to go to interest 
payments, and that is money that can either go into the spending that 
is necessary to cover the costs of Government or more can be sent back 
to the people who earn the money.
  We also do provide in the budget that was passed at least a $500 
billion cushion--a rainy day fund--which we think is very important for 
meeting the emergencies we might face in the next 10 years. It is also 
important for the added spending that we know we are going to face. We 
have set a 5-percent limit on the increase in spending for the next 
year. A 5-percent increase is more than most families are going to 
increase their spending in the next year, so I certainly think it is 
the most we should go beyond this year's spending of the Government 
money.
  With that 5-percent increase and the $500 billion rainy day fund, we 
will be able to spend more in the priority areas such as national 
defense. We know we have fallen behind in the last few years in keeping 
up our strong national defense. We also know we are going to have to 
meet some future technology tests in order to maintain our superiority 
and security. So that means we are going to be looking at the next 
generation of airplane, the next generation of ship, the next 
generation of land-based vehicle, and the next generation of missile 
defense.
  We must perfect our theater missile defense, so that when our troops 
are in any theater in the world, they will have the protection of a 
missile defense system, such as the PAC 3, which is a hit-to-kill 
missile--a missile that can hit a missile. That has been tested and it 
works. It is going to be the most successful theater defense system we 
have ever had in our country.
  We are also looking at a longer range missile defense system, 
possibly a sea-based system and, later down the road, an 
intercontinental ballistic missile defense system. This is because we 
want to make sure that our shores are totally secure from any kind of 
incoming ballistic missile and that our people, wherever they may be in 
the world defending our interests, will also be secure. So that is 
going to take more money and we are going to put more money into it.
  In addition to more defense spending, we are going to have to deal 
with prescription drug options in Medicare and

[[Page S5676]]

prescription drug benefits for people who are facing true hardships in 
meeting their medical needs. That will take more money. I hope we can 
reform the Medicare system so that it does meet the test that all of us 
want it to meet for quality health care for our senior citizens, and 
that we can add a prescription drug component. So that will be another 
area of added spending.
  I hope we will be able to have a Social Security reform bill, and all 
of the money that is now in Social Security surplus will be held for 
Social Security reform. It will be held for the integrity of the Social 
Security System that is done in the budget we have passed because we 
want to reform Social Security to make sure it is secure, not only 
today and 10 years from now but in the year 2030 when it will go into 
deficit if we don't do something to make sure it remains solid.
  So we passed a very good budget. In that budget, we also allocated 
$1.35 trillion for tax relief. I am very proud that our conferees are 
trying to work that out between the two Houses. The two Houses passed 
very different bills. The Senate bill was passed this week; the House 
bill was passed earlier. They are different bills. The rate reduction 
is different in the two bills, so we are trying to reconcile those rate 
reductions. We are trying to make some of the reductions earlier in the 
process, over a 10-year period. Some of the rate reductions take effect 
later in the 10-year period. We would like to bring all of the 
reduction into 2002 so that every working American would start feeling 
some relief by January 1 of this year.
  We are trying to give relief from the marriage penalty. When two 
single people are working--for instance, a policeman and a 
schoolteacher--when they get married today, they will pay approximately 
$1,400 more in taxes just because they got married. You may say, why 
would they have to pay $1,400 more in taxes? Why would our Tax Code do 
that? Well, it is because when they get married, they go into the next 
bracket; whereas, if they make $30,000 and $25,000, respectively, and 
they are in the 15-percent bracket, when they get married they go into 
the 28-percent bracket. That is a $1,400 hit. So we are going to try to 
relieve that penalty.
  In the Senate bill, there was very solid relief--double the standard 
deduction, double the 15-percent bracket. That is solid relief. It will 
take place over the 10-year period. Many of us hoped it would take 
place sooner than the 10-year period, but at least if we can get that 
relief on the books, we will begin to change our Tax Code so that it 
does not discriminate against people who get married. We want people 
not to think of taxes as a factor when they decide to tie the knot and 
start their family.
  So anything in the Tax Code that will have the effect of cutting back 
on the ability of people to get married and start their families, buy 
their first home, buy the extra car, whatever it is, we want them to be 
able to do it without regard to the Tax Code.
  So we are looking at significant rate reductions that will affect 
every working American. We are talking about significant marriage 
penalty relief. We are also talking about relief from the death tax. We 
are talking about trying to keep a family-owned farm or business in the 
family.
  I don't want to continue to see family businesses in our country sold 
to big businesses and take away the family nature of the business which 
is important to that family and important to every employee of that 
family business. I want those family businesses to stay together. I 
don't want every farm in America to be part of an international 
conglomerate. I want family farms to make it in America, and I want 
family ranches and family small businesses. That is the economic engine 
of this country, and it has been our tradition for over 200 years, 
valuing family-owned businesses.
  If we can pass them through the generations without taxing them and 
causing them to have to be sold to pay inheritance taxes, then I think 
we will have maintained one of the very important economic engines of 
America, and we will have maintained a very strong tradition and a very 
strong part of the entrepreneurial spirit that has helped build this 
country. So we address that death tax, and we eliminate it over the 11-
year period, and we significantly increase the exemption through the 
10-year period.
  The fourth area of major tax reduction that we hope will come out of 
the conference report and was a component of both the House and Senate 
bills is the child tax credit. We are trying to double the child tax 
credit over a 10-year period. Today, it is $500. We hope to increase 
that to $1,000.
  So the four major parts of our tax relief bill will be a major tax 
reduction through rate reduction, marriage penalty relief, death tax 
relief, and the $500-per-child tax credit doubles for every family.
  There are many other important elements; there are many other 
important tax relief measures I would like to see pass. If we can keep 
those four strong elements so that everyone will realize relief in a 
big way, I will be happy.
  Hopefully, we will lower the capital gains rate and will increase the 
IRAs and the pension capabilities. The more people can save, the better 
off our country will be and the more stability our country will have. 
Those are all worthy. I hope we can do those at a later time.
  There are some very important education deductions in the Senate 
bill. I hope we can keep some of them. Trying to help people with their 
education expenses is the most important thing we can do to increase 
the number of young people who get a solid education, K-12 and college.
  It will be a great stepping stone to go into the next year if we can 
pass the tax cut bill. Right now the conference committee is working. I 
believe Senators are willing to stay. We thought we would be out for 
Memorial Day right now. We thought we would be gone. I thought I might 
be home with my family last night, but I am not. I am here and so is 
every Senator.
  We hope to pass this tax reduction package. If we cannot do it today, 
we are willing to stay until tomorrow. We will pass it tomorrow if we 
can get out the tax cut package and certainly we hope we can finish 
this business because there will be some major changes that are 
dependent on our passing that tax cut legislation.
  There are major changes in the Senate. They are not my first choice 
for changes, but nevertheless the decision has been made, so we ought 
to go forward and let people start making concrete plans about how the 
Senate is going to be organized. It is in everyone's best interest to 
do that.
  The Senate is staying in session. We are going to make every effort 
to finish this tax relief bill for the American people if we have to 
work today, tonight, tomorrow, Sunday, Tuesday--whatever. If we can 
come to an agreement on a tax cut bill that has the general principles 
I have outlined that were passed in the House and Senate bills, then we 
will be in very good stead with the American people that we have done 
our job to the best of our ability in a bipartisan way, and we will 
then come back and start the business of reorganizing the Senate and 
continuing to do the people's work.
  When we come back from Memorial Day and visiting with our people at 
home, we are going to start talking about the energy crisis. During 
Memorial Day weekend, we are going to want to start thinking about how 
we can address the energy crisis in a meaningful way, hopefully with 
some short-term relief but, more importantly, for the long term.
  We have three major problems with the energy crisis in this country. 
We have a production problem. We are importing 56 percent of the energy 
needs of our country from foreign countries, and that is not a good, 
stable situation. We have a distribution problem in that we do not have 
enough refineries and pipelines to distribute the energy even if we 
increase production, and we have a conservation, a consumption problem. 
We need to encourage people in every way to conserve heating and air-
conditioning in their homes, the gasoline they use in their cars.
  We can encourage people to conserve. We hope they will do it anyway. 
With incentives, people will be even more encouraged to conserve.
  We have a three-pronged energy problem: production, distribution, and 
consumption. That is going to be our priority when we return.
  Senator Murkowski has been talking about the energy crisis in this 
country for the last 4 years. I have been privileged to work with him, 
along with

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Senator Breaux, Senator Landrieu, Senator Domenici, and Senator Thomas, 
on this energy issue in a bipartisan way.
  We have been saying for the last 4 years we have an energy crisis in 
this country. We have not been able to get the rest of the Members of 
Congress to listen. They are going to listen now, and Senator 
Murkowski, myself, Senator Breaux, Senator Thomas, Senator Domenici, 
Senator Landrieu, Senator Bingaman--all of us are going to be working 
on an energy package that will address the three components.
  It must be balanced, and we must address all three components.
  I hope we can get tax relief on the table, letting people keep more 
of the money they earn, and send it to the President. I know he is 
going to sign it because he asked for it. He campaigned on it. He kept 
his promise; he asked for it and we are going to give it to him. Now we 
are going to address energy. We are going to address education reform 
and try to keep doing the people's business.
  We have toiled in the fields. We have worked hard. We have a lot to 
show for that work. We will finish the job the people have asked us to 
do on tax relief and, hopefully, we will go home, turn a leaf, and 
start addressing education and energy when we return.
  I am proud of the job our President is doing, and I am proud of the 
job the Senate has done.
  I end by saying on a personal note, I am very proud of our leader, 
Senator Trent Lott, the majority leader of the Senate. He has worked 
very hard to push the President's programs he campaigned to do and was 
elected to do.
  Senator Lott has the most unfailing sense of humor and optimism of 
anyone I have ever met. He has been hit with a few blows in the last 
few weeks. I admire what he has been able to do, working with the 
Democrats, saying we are going to work in a bipartisan way. Through the 
filibuster of the tax cut bill, he kept his optimism. He never let 
down. He let the 50 or so amendments be voted on time after time. He 
kept his good humor.
  Now he is facing becoming the Senate Republican leader rather than 
the Senate majority leader, and he is already reaching out to Senator 
Daschle, who will be the majority leader in the next couple of weeks. 
He said: We are going to keep working with you, and we are going to try 
to work in a bipartisan way to assure the people's business gets done.
  My hat is off to Senator Lott today. I have seen him up close in the 
last few weeks, and I can tell you he is a leader who is determined to 
continue to do his job in the best way he can, in the most sincere way 
he can, never with acrimony, always trying to do the right thing, 
working with a 50-50 Senate, which has not been the easiest job he has 
ever been handed but one he has tried to dispatch in a most fair and 
equitable way.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. STABENOW). The Senator from Rhode Island.

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