[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 29 (Thursday, February 12, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H1279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1630
                      TAX CUTS ARE NOT THE ANSWER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. If the Republicans hadn't run the economy into a ditch 
and if they had a credible alternative, maybe we'd listen to them.
  Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts--tell me about a tax cut that ever built 
a public school. Tell me about a tax cut that ever educated a child at 
a public school. Tell me about a tax cut that built a bridge. We've got 
tax cuts to nowhere. They just want to carry on about bridges to 
nowhere.
  We've got 160,000 bridges in this country on the national highway 
system that are falling down. They're functionally obsolete or they are 
structurally deficient. A tax cut will not fix a single one of them. I 
guess maybe after they give the rich people all their money back, we 
can take up a collection for public schools, a collection to educate 
our kids. Maybe they'll be generous. Maybe they will even build us some 
bridges. I don't think so.
  The Republicans don't have a credible alternative. Unfortunately, 
this bill also has too much tax cuts in it because of Republican 
insistence, particularly from the Senate side. We have lost so many 
jobs and potential jobs in this bill because of tax cuts.
  Now, let's look at infrastructure spending. In this bill, $29 billion 
to modernize roads and bridges, rebuild roads and bridges. That creates 
835,000 jobs. $18 billion for clean water environmental restoration 
projects, 375,000 jobs. That's $47 billion--that's 6 percent of the 
bill, nowhere near enough--is going to create 1.2 million jobs. That 
means 35 percent of the jobs in this bill come out of 6 percent of the 
bill, and none of them come out of the tax cuts they're talking about 
on that side of the aisle.
  Infrastructure spending was cut to make room for tax cuts. Mass 
transit was cut to make room for tax cuts. Two of the largest transit 
districts in Oregon, they're suffering the same thing as transit 
districts across the country. They have too many passengers so they're 
going to have to cut service. Americans are turning to transit to avoid 
high gas prices. They're turning to transit as an effective alternative 
and a good way to get to work, and the service is going to go away. 
There's no transit district in the world, not a one, that makes money, 
but the Republicans say, oh, we can't afford to support those transit 
districts; let's give the money back to people. Well, what are they 
going to do? How are they going to get to work? There's a lot of people 
who don't have an alternative.
  And then the making work paid tax cut, which is in this bill, is down 
to eight bucks a week per person. Now, I can just see, you know, 
someone of the generation that gets that $8, there's a lot of people in 
my district could use eight bucks a week, they sure could, but they 
don't think it's going to put America back to work. They don't think 
it's going to turn this economy around. They don't think that's going 
to give us a better future. It can help them with some essentials. It 
can help their kids with some essentials, but they would rather see the 
money invested to put other people to work in good jobs and rebuild 
this country and give us a better future. Eight bucks a week.
  I can just see, you know, 20 years from today when our kids and 
grandkids are still paying for the money we borrowed to give some 
people $8 a week back will say, Grandpa, what did you spend that eight 
bucks a week on because I'm paying taxes to pay that money back. 
Grandpa probably won't remember where the eight bucks a week went.
  The education cuts, to make room for tax cuts, which can mean some of 
the school districts in my State have to chop 20 days off the year, 20 
days. Now, tax cuts aren't going to help those kids get their 
education. They're not going to keep those schools open.
  School construction, remodernization, out. Had to make room for tax 
cuts. Now, why are we making all this room for tax cuts when none of 
the Republicans are supporting the bill? Because there's three 
Republicans in the Senate who are writing this policy. They're more 
powerful than the President of the United States and the Congress 
combined apparently because the Senate is so dysfunctional, and they're 
writing the bill and they want the tax cuts. They're delivering tax 
cuts for these guys, and they're sticking it to the American people in 
terms of a meaningful jobs creation stimulus package.
  Veterans took a big cut. Everybody loves to come to the floor and 
wrap themselves in the flag and talk about how much they support our 
troops. You can measure it in this bill. Veterans and our 
servicemembers were cut in their housing and other services to make 
room for tax cuts.
  Tax cuts are not the answer. I personally think we should start over, 
reject the tax cut mantle from that side of the aisle, and invest the 
money in rebuilding this country. If we're going to borrow the money, 
it should provide benefits for years to come, not a transient benefit 
and not a tax cut.

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