[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 21, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            DESIGNEE FOR SECRETARY OF TREASURY POSES PROBLEM

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, as Members of the House of 
Representatives, we don't get a vote on confirmation of Cabinet 
appointments. But at the same time, that does not absolve us of the 
responsibility to speak out when we see a problem and, currently, the 
designee for the Secretary of the Treasury poses an enormous problem 
for this House and for the Senate.
  Now, Madam Speaker, my constituents have trouble with taxes, just as 
all of our constituents have trouble with taxes, and sometimes they get 
into real difficulty. But it doesn't, it doesn't absolve them of their 
obligation to pay their taxes and their interest and their fines 
because, of course, we have many thousands of people who paid their 
taxes honestly. I speak to you about that as someone who ran their own 
business and had to pay payroll taxes.
  Whether this was a mistake or an evasion, yesterday, when President 
Obama spoke about a call to service but also underscored a call to 
competence, mistake or evasion, it certainly doesn't underscore either.

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