[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15653]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  URGING MEMBERS TO ASK THAT THE PRESIDENT PASS MARRIAGE TAX PENALTY 
                           RELIEF LEGISLATION

  (Mr. SCHAFFER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, in just a few hours the House and Senate 
will agree on the marriage tax penalty repeal bill and send it over to 
the President. He says he will veto it. That would be unfortunate. I 
just ran into a high school student, Matt Heaton, from New Jersey, who 
told me he understands this issue.
  When the Federal government taxes people for getting married, he 
says, it is betraying the faith of the American people. We should be 
rewarding couples who get married, not punishing them. It is insulting 
to our people to punish them for entering the sacred union of marriage. 
When young people clearly express American values by expressing their 
love for one another through marriage, it would be the height of 
infidelity to punish them for it.
  Yet, the President now threatens to veto this pro-family bill. The 
marriage tax is hurting those who need money the most. It robs middle 
class families of resources that could be used for such things as child 
health care or education, maybe even a college education.
  I urge my friends on both sides of the aisle to press the President 
to join us in repealing the marriage tax penalty. It is the sensible 
thing to do. It is the American thing to do. It is the right thing to 
do in our efforts to honor American families.

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