[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 19, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H983-H984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, in the memory of our former beloved 
colleague, Claude Pepper of Florida, who fought at our side in 1938 to 
preserve the Social Security system, I rise this evening to make my 
remarks.
  I want to talk about fiscal responsibility, responsibility to our 
Nation, responsibility to the future, responsibility to our children, 
responsibility to our senior citizens.

[[Page H984]]

  Hubert Humphrey used to place particular emphasis on those Americans 
who are in the dawn of life and those who are in the twilight of life. 
I also rise to talk about fiscal responsibility to our veterans who 
have sacrificed and are sacrificing so much to keep freedom's flame 
burning brightly in America and throughout the world.
  Last week the Congressional Budget Office reported that the 
President's budget spends $1.63 trillion of the Social Security trust 
fund surplus over the next 10 years. That is $261 billion more than the 
administration initially claimed. The budget office also reports that 
the President's policies spend Social Security trust fund money in 
every single year for the foreseeable future.
  We have heard the administration officials, and some Republican 
leaders are extremely unhappy with the Congressional Budget Office for 
telling the truth; but that is why we have a Congressional Budget 
Office, to provide nonpartisan information, whether we like the results 
or not. We rely on it to be factual.
  Tomorrow, Madam Speaker, this body will take up the President's 
budget for fiscal year 2003, and the unfortunate reality is that the 
President's policies will lead to the exhaustion of the entire Social 
Security trust fund surplus for the next 10 years and then some, 
according to the House Committee on the Budget minority staff.
  The administration does this by using off-the-books accounting. We 
learned from the Enron-Arthur Andersen scandal that off-the-books 
accounting can get us into big trouble in a hurry. Indeed, even the 
administration admits that it spends some of the Social Security 
surplus despite Republican promises last year they would protect 100 
percent of the Social Security trust fund surplus.
  Remember the lock box promise? Well, the Republicans have picked the 
lock and are proceeding to take our money out of the lock box every 
day, money that belongs to the senior citizens of this country.
  The Bush administration inherited a $5.6 trillion surplus; but now 8 
months later, $4 trillion is gone and that jumps to $5 trillion next 
year if we take their budget on its word.
  Madam Speaker, this is the most radical fiscal reversal in American 
history. The budget surplus is exhausted, deficits are back, and the 
lock box is gone.
  What does it mean? For one thing it means that Congress may not be 
able to provide relief for the Medicare providers who are facing deep 
cuts in reimbursement.

                              {time}  2000

  It means veterans will have to pay more for prescription drugs. The 
Veterans Administration is proposing to raise the copayment for 
veterans by 250 percent.
  It means the wealthiest Americans will continue to get giant tax 
cuts, but American's 35 million senior citizens will not get a 
prescription drug benefit.
  It means that programs for women, infants, and children will be 
endangered. For the people in the dawn of life and the twilight of 
life, this budget gives the back of its hand, and it is not right.
  Over the 5-year period from 1996 to 2000, Enron paid no taxes for 4 
of the last 5 years and received a net tax rebate of $381 million. This 
includes a $278 million rebate in the year 2000 alone. Over the same 
period, the company's profits, before Federal income taxes, totaled 
$1.785 billion. Just their profits. In none of those years was the 
company's pretax profit less than $87 million. At the 35 percent tax 
rate, Enron's tax on profits in the last 5 years should have been $625 
million. But the company was able to use tax benefits from stock 
options and other loopholes to reduce its 5-year tax to substantially 
less than zero. Among the loopholes that Enron used to avoid tax 
liability was the creation of more than 800 subsidiaries in tax havens 
such as the Cayman Islands.
  Madam Speaker, is it any wonder that we cannot do the right thing for 
America's children, for America's veterans, and America's seniors? Is 
it any wonder that this Congress cannot act responsibly? Is it any 
wonder that the Social Security trust fund is being violated every day, 
even as I speak here?
  As long as the big campaign contributors call the shots in 
Washington, we are going to see continued raids on the lockbox, and the 
American people are going to have to pay the bills that Enron, with an 
assist from the politicians, avoided.
  The responsible vote tomorrow on the budget resolution is ``no.''

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