[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12129]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   PARTY OF THOMAS JEFFERSON IS DEAD

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Madam Speaker, how is it that the party of 
Thomas Jefferson, who was a champion of the common man, has become the 
enemy of middle-class families? How is it that the party of Jefferson, 
champion of freedom from oppressive government, now rushes to embrace 
expansion of government and every conceivable encroachment on human 
liberty?
  Just consider the evidence. ``New Democrat'' Bill Clinton won office 
in 1992 by promising a middle-class tax cut. He then promptly passed 
the largest tax increase in our history. And now we have the leader of 
the Democrat Party in Congress, the distinguished gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Gephardt) who is on record saying just over a week ago, 
and I have the quote here, and since repetition is the soul of learning 
and I am an old school teacher, why, it bears repeating: ``You've got 
to have a combination of taking it out of the defense budget and 
raising revenue. We can argue about how to do that, closing loopholes 
or even raising taxes to do it.''
  Yes, the party of Thomas Jefferson is dead, long dead, deader than 
Elvis. A weaker and weaker military and higher and higher taxes on 
average middle-class Americans, that is apparently the Democrat way.

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