[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17797]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     URGING COLLEAGUES TO OVERRIDE VETO OF MARRIAGE PENALTY RELIEF

  (Mr. KNOLLENBERG asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague from Illinois (Mr. 
Weller) in rising to urge my colleagues to override the President's 
recent veto of marriage penalty relief. The Marriage Penalty Relief Act 
passed by significant margins in both the House and the Senate. It is 
overdue for tax relief to our middle-income families, who are dependent 
on two-wage earners, who are hardest hit by this penalty. It is 
especially hard on that second wage, often the wife's salary, because 
their income is taxed at higher marginal rates, often from 15 percent 
to 28 percent. You can see how tough it is.
  As the President makes up his long list of end-of-the-year spending 
priorities, let him remember and let us remember the 25 million married 
couples who are struggling to make ends meet. Instead of dedicating the 
surplus to more spending ideas and bigger government plans, we should 
return some of it to the American people who earned it, while 
continuing to pay down the debt.


  Let the American people decide for themselves what is best and what 
is best for their families, not a politician in Washington.

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