[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23805]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            REPUBLICANS ARE STOPPING RAID ON SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, Washington big spenders have raided Social 
Security for 30 years to pay for big government programs. Republicans 
are stopping that raid.
  As a result, the President and the Democrats in Congress are 
desperately looking for new ways to pay for their big government 
programs. As usual, they think they found it in the wallets of the 
working Americans.
  The Democrats' scream to increase tobacco taxes in order to pay for a 
fatter, more bloated government is nothing more than a money grab that 
will hurt low-income workers.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, as this chart shows, over 53 percent of the 
Democrats' tax increase will be paid by Americans earning less than 
$30,000.
  Mr. Speaker, I am here to assure the hard-working taxpayers of this 
country that this Republican Congress will not schedule a bill that 
raises their taxes and this Republican Congress will not schedule a 
bill that raids their Social Security. It is time to stop the raid on 
Social Security and time to stop the raid on the taxpayers' wallets.
  Mr. Speaker, if the Democrats raise tobacco taxes, they will feed the 
most insidious addiction in this town, the addiction they have for our 
money.

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