[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3298]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



    IRRESPONSIBLE TAX CUT MEANS SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS FOR ESSENTIAL 
                          GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, here we go again, another round of 
voodoo economics, and another huge tax cut for the rich.
  Passing this $2 trillion tax cut before voting on the budget is 
irresponsible and will jeopardize the future of Social Security, 
Medicare, and public education. This bill is like taking a vacation 
before you pay your rent and utility bills.
  I encourage my colleagues to consider the terrible situation in my 
home State of Florida where massive tax breaks for the rich have come 
at the expense of much-needed services for the poor, year after year 
after year. Yesterday, Florida Governor Jeb Bush called for even more 
tax breaks for the rich while continuing to overlook the most pressing 
issues facing Florida residents, for example, a $1 billion hole in the 
Medicaid program that funds health services for poor pregnant women, 
children, the elderly, and the disabled; a school crisis that includes 
teacher retention problems and budget cuts that eliminate some of the 
most innovative teaching programs; a senior population whose health 
care is at risk because they cannot afford to pay for their 
prescription drugs; and the Nation's oldest veterans' population with 
nowhere to bury them with the dignity they deserve.
  Mr. Speaker, mark my words. The rest of the country will face the 
same problems we have in Florida if President Bush's tax cut becomes a 
reality. The Bush tax cut is like the Reagan cuts that devastated our 
economy with huge debts, skyrocketing unemployment, and high interest 
rates. We have been down this road before, and it took us 20 years to 
get out of this mess that the Reagan tax cuts put us in.
  One of the immediate effects of his plan was the homeless problem. By 
cutting housing and community-based programs, Reagan eliminated the 
most critical programs for the people at the bottom of the economic 
ladder. As a result, this country witnessed record numbers of homeless 
people, and our deficit grew by leaps and bounds. We will see the same 
problem with health care and senior programs if these tax cuts are 
allowed.
  My constituents do not deserve to relive this nightmare again. I 
would like to remind my Republican colleagues that the American people 
did not vote for the Bush plan.

                              {time}  1830

  We would not be in this mess if the coup had not taken place in 
Florida. There is no mandate for the Bush plan; I can tell my 
colleagues coming from Duvall County, where 27,000 votes were thrown 
out, 16,000 of them African Americans, 16,000 African Americans, 27,000 
votes thrown out.
  The sad thing is that this election is not about a few hundred votes. 
It is about thousands of votes, thousands of votes that were thrown out 
in the State of Florida. We must commit ourselves that this will never 
happen again in this history of this country. The last time it happened 
was in 1877, and Florida was involved in that coup also.
  Mr. Speaker, a lot of people think it does not matter what party is 
in charge. Clearly, today it is an example of it does matter what party 
is in charge. The parties are not all the same. Some look out for the 
wealthy and the others look out for the working people and the poor 
people of this country.
  I am happy to be a party of that party, that cares about Medicaid and 
education and looks at it as investing in our future and not doing away 
with the surplus, that we take most of it out of health care, health 
care.
  I tell my colleagues it is not a free ride in this country, and the 
American people, we will fight this fight again and we will welcome 
President Bush Monday when he comes to Florida.

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