[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 82 (Thursday, June 22, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H4496-H4497]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE ESTATE TAX AND MINIMUM WAGE

  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, so today the United States House of 
Representatives voted in the next decade, the coming decade with the 
retirement of the baby boomers looming before us, to borrow, borrow 
$762 billion so the wealthiest among us can escape taxation and helping 
to carry the burden of the United States. On the same day the 
Republican leaders refused to allow any vote on an increase in the 
minimum wage, $5.15 an hour, the Federal minimum wage. Fairly 
extraordinary, but it says a lot about priorities.
  On my side of the aisle there was near unanimity on increasing the 
minimum wage, and a large majority voted against borrowing $762 billion 
so we can give massive tax cuts to estates, for the most part, worth 
more than $25 million.
  It is not about small business, family farms, tree farmers. There 
will be in 2009 an exemption of $7 million per family. That will take 
care of most small businesses, family farms, and tree farms that I am 
aware of. No. This is about the massive accumulation of wealth, some of 
it unearned.

                              {time}  1830

  For instance, let's take Lee Raymond, a wonderful gentleman, recently 
the CEO of ExxonMobil. We all know them well. They made $100 million a 
day last year. ExxonMobil made $100 million a day last year extorting 
the American public, the driving public, through price gouging and 
extraordinary profiteering.
  Now, Mr. Raymond, who held the helm until recently, was rewarded 
fairly handsomely for doing that, a $400 million retirement payout. So 
this one gentleman, one gentleman, of course, he really worked hard to 
earn that $400 million, and he is going to have to limp through his 
retirement on $400 million, although I think he still gets to use the 
corporate jet, and they still would have to provide him some other 
emoluments suitable to his status.
  But, in any case, this one change in the Tax Code is going to be 
worth an approximately $160 million tax break to Mr. Raymond. So while 
ExxonMobil is fleecing the consumers over here, Mr. Raymond gets a $400 
million windfall pension, and then he gets from the Republican 
leadership a $160 million tax break.
  Now, that might be kind of okay, except they are going to borrow the 
money to give him the tax break. We are borrowing right now $1.3 
billion a day to run the Government of the United States, and with this 
new tax break for the richest among us, estates worth more than $25 
million, we are going to borrow another $210 million a day. Our credit 
is good. Isn't that great? That is the good news, they would say, our 
credit is good.
  Unfortunately, the bill isn't going to go to Mr. Raymond. The bill is 
going to go to people who work for wages and salaries. Under the bill 
that passed here today, a schoolteacher will pay a higher rate of 
taxation on their salary than Mr. Raymond will on his windfall from 
ExxonMobil. Now, that is fair in their world. It is not fair in my 
world, and it is not fair to the people I represent.
  You can look at it another way. The next decade, as the Social 
Security annual surplus diminishes down toward

[[Page H4497]]

zero toward the end of the decade, roughly the surplus during that 
decade will be about $780 billion. So we are going to borrow the entire 
surplus collected to pay the benefits of retired Americans; of course, 
not Mr. Raymond, he is not too worried about it, but other Americans, 
and we are going to give that as a tax break to people who have estates 
worth more than $25 million.
  Isn't that great? And they say this is about small business and 
family farms. No, it is about feeding those who have given so 
generously to you. This is the contributor class that we are talking 
about here, and the contributor class is awfully generous and has been 
incredibly generous to George Bush over his political career and 
extraordinarily generous to the Republican majority here in Congress.
  So, it is not too much to ask that they should pass a bill that gives 
them a $762 billion windfall, hands the bill to working Americans, and 
they hope to stay in power. A very sad day for the United States House 
of Representatives.

                          ____________________