[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 2 (Thursday, January 24, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H40]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FAULTY LOGIC ON CAUSE OF RECESSION

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, on January 4, one of the political leaders of 
the other body said President Bush's tax relief plan ``probably made 
the recession worse.''
  Oh, really? Only $41 billion of the President's $1.35 trillion 
bipartisan tax relief plan went into effect last year. Of that amount, 
93 percent, or $38 billion, comprised the income tax rebates that were 
mailed to every tax-paying American last summer and early fall. So 
according to this illustrious political leader, the tax rebate 
proposal, widely hailed by Democrats at the time, caused ``the most 
dramatic fiscal deterioration in our Nation's history.''
  Blaming the President's plan for the cause of the recession, when the 
bulk of tax relief will not occur until the year 2005, is faulty logic 
at best. To say that providing a $300 tax rebate to working Americans 
during a recession probably made the recession worse does not make 
sense.
  The real reason some political leaders want to repeal tax cuts is 
just so they have more money for government program spending.

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