[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18606]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         REPUBLICAN TAX BILL

  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, Republicans keep saying that the money in 
the budget surplus belongs to the American people, falsely implying 
that we Democrats disagree with that.
  For the record, we do not disagree. The surplus belongs to the 
American people. They are the ones who have paid for it. They are the 
ones who worked for it. That is why we are listening to the American 
people, who are telling us that their values is to use the surplus to 
pay down the national debt and to save Social Security and Medicare.
  Republicans, on the other hand, are listening to all the special 
interests and high-priced Washington lobbyists, who are telling them to 
waste the surplus on a trillion dollar tax giveaway.
  So, Mr. Speaker, actions speak louder than words. It is we Democrats 
who are listening to the voices and values of America's working 
families. Because we know this Government does belong to them and they 
are demanding that we exercise some real fiscal discipline, pay down 
the national debt, and extend the life of Social Security and Medicare. 
Democrats are committed to doing that.
  If the Republicans really believed the surplus belongs to the 
American people, they would listen to the voices of those people.

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