[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 30 (Friday, February 13, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H1523]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SAMMY MAHAN: ``OPT ME OUT''

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, this morning I was talking to my 
friend Sammy Mahan. He is from Baytown, Texas. He is a wrecker driver, 
and has five wreckers under his service. He was asking me about the 
stimulus bill. And he said, ``How are we going to pay for it?'' And I 
said, ``Well, we don't have the money, so we are probably going to have 
to borrow it maybe from the Chinese. Eventually there is going to be a 
tax increase.''
  And he said, ``How much is it going to cost?'' And I said, ``$790 
billion.'' Then he said, ``No. How much is it going to cost me?'' I 
said, ``It is about $10,000 per family, is what they say.''
  Then he said, ``Well, I don't have $10,000; and unlike you government 
boys, I can't spend money I don't have. So I want you to opt me out of 
this deal.'' And I said, ``What do you mean, `opt me out'?'' He 
replied, ``Give me a form. I want to sign it. You take $10,000 off that 
$790 billion, and I don't want to pay it because I don't have the 
money.''
  Madam Speaker, I suspect that if most Americans read this bill and 
they realized how much it was going to cost them personally, they would 
want to opt out of this deal. We need to come up with a plan, but this 
isn't the deal. And since people I represent can't opt out, I am going 
to opt out for them.
  And that's just the way it is.

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