[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18608-18609]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          REPUBLICAN TAX BILL OUT OF STEP WITH AMERICAN PEOPLE

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, we have a projected Federal surplus, the 
first in three decades. We must be responsible. We must use that 
surplus so that it reflects our values as a people and as a Nation. 
Sadly, the Republican leadership would rather give whopping tax breaks 
to the wealthiest Americans.
  Instead of reasonable tax relief targeted to working, middle-class 
families, the House Republican leadership passed a scheme that gives 65 
percent of the benefit to the top 10 percent of Americans. Their plan 
does nothing to extend Social Security by a single day. It dedicates 
not one penny to strengthening Medicare. It forces deep cuts in 
education, crime fighting and national

[[Page 18609]]

defense. These tax breaks for the wealthy are evidence that Republican 
values are out of step with the American people. I hope we will heed 
the advice of the Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan who warned 
that, and I quote, the time is not right for whopping tax breaks. I 
call upon cooler heads to prevail so that we can use this surplus to 
strengthen Medicare and Social Security to keep faith with our parents 
and with our children, give tax relief to middle-class families and 
reduce the Federal debt.

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