[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 57 (Thursday, May 11, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H2556-H2557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      BUSH ADMINISTRATION TAX CUTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, well, with little notice or fanfare, a 
modest tax benefit for families who are struggling to help their kids 
get a higher education expired this year. It was what is called an 
above-the-line deduction, up to $4,000 towards tuition could become an 
above-the-line deduction.
  Now for a family with $40,000, $50,000 income, that would be worth 
about 1,000 bucks off their taxes, not insignificant when they are 
straining on that income to try and help their child get an education, 
get ahead, realize the American dream.
  But the Republican majority, being the fiscal conservatives they are, 
said it was too expensive. We could not afford to renew this modest tax 
benefit for middle income families to give them a little help with 
tuition for their kids. Now, well and good.
  When you see their budget that they have pulled from the floor for 
the third time in 3 weeks, they are going to pass a budget, probably 
next week, that will have America borrowing $1.4 billion a day, a lot 
of it from foreign sources.
  It will have a lot of us borrowing from this year's Social Security 
surplus, $193 billion, and spending it on

[[Page H2557]]

other things other than Social Security, in part to give tax cuts to 
wealthy Americans. Also buried in their budget is the fifth increase in 
the debt limit in 5 years. Fiscal conservatives that they are, they are 
hiding it in the middle of their budget because they don't want people 
to see it, another $600 billion increase in the debt limit to nearly 
$10 trillion.
  That is quite an achievement. Nearly doubling the national debt in 5 
years is something that they could write home about, but they don't 
want the people at home to know. So I can understand their concerns.
  But, wait a minute, oh, no. We just passed a bill to give $70 billion 
in tax breaks to wealthy investors. Now, where is that money going to 
come from? Oh, well, they say tax breaks pay for themselves, especially 
when you give the money to rich people.
  This particular piece of work extends a tax break that wasn't going 
to expire until 2008. The college tuition deduction has already 
expired. Middle income families can't get it next year, but wealthy 
investors were worried that starting in 2009 or 2010 they might have to 
pay the same percentage of their investment earnings, their unearned 
income, as people who work for a living.
  The Republicans said that would just destroy the economy of America. 
Those investors are the heart blood of our country, not the people who 
work and build the country; no, they have got to pay higher rates of 
taxes, but the people who can invest for a living.
  What does their $70 billion tax break do? Well, someone who earns 
$5.3 million, $82,000 tax relief. They really need it too at $5.3 
million, hard making ends meet. You know, their Hummer, 3 bucks a 
gallon of gas for their Hummer too. Well, maybe it is a limousine 
driven by a chauffeur, but who knows.
  How about the retired CEO of ExxonMobil, $400 million, that is what 
he got, just retired. Well, this bill gives him an extra $2 million off 
his tax bill. It was going to be hard for him to maintain his lifestyle 
in retirement with only $400 million in retirement. So the Republicans 
feel that working people should borrow $2 million to give to him an 
additional little tax benefit.
  But for a family earning a good income, 75,000 bucks, it is worth 
$110 a year. So the family that earns $75,000 is going to get up to 
$110 tax benefit under this. But the retired CEO of ExxonMobil is going 
to get $2 million, and the family who earns wages and salary at $75,000 
is going to pay to retire the debt, because we are borrowing the money 
to give to the wealthy investors.
  How stupid do they think the American people are? How profligate and 
shameless the Republicans are to do this sort of thing. Help the 
families who are trying to have their kids get it. That is the next 
generation of earners. You cannot even extend them a modest tax 
benefit, but you can shower money on the wealthiest among us, those who 
need it least.
  It is time for new priorities in this Congress. It is time for fiscal 
responsibility. It is time to give a little bit of a helping hand to 
middle income and working America and let the rich help carry their 
fair share of the load.

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