[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 518]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         RESPONDING TO HUGE TAX BREAKS GIVEN TO AMERICA'S RICH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Brown of South Carolina). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, I also want to congratulate the gentlewoman 
from California (Ms. Pelosi) and wish her the very best, but the issue 
that I want to focus on is a very important piece of legislation which 
is going to surface tomorrow, and that is the issue of how Congress 
responds to the huge tax breaks that the President and the Republican 
leadership have given to the wealthiest 1 percent of the population.
  Mr. Speaker, this country has a $6 trillion national debt, and, for 
the first time now in several years, we are running a deficit.
  Mr. Speaker, despite all of the great speeches here about lockboxes 
and our great love for Social Security, everybody understands that 
Congress is now dipping into and raiding the Social Security fund.
  Further, Mr. Speaker, most people in this country understand that we 
have many enormous social needs. In my State of Vermont, every week 
when I go out and speak to senior citizens, they demand of me that 
Congress do something about the outrageously high cost of prescription 
drugs and the fact that we do not have a strong prescription drug 
benefit under Medicare.
  Mr. Speaker, what the issue tomorrow is going to be about is do we 
give huge tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country? Forty 
percent of the President's tax breaks go to the wealthiest 1 percent, 
people who have a minimum income of $370,000 a year and average over $1 
million a year in income. So the choice that Congress faces is, do you 
give huge tax breaks in the future to those people, or do you provide a 
strong prescription drug benefit under Medicare?
  Mr. Speaker, not only is the President and the Republican leadership 
not going to provide a strong prescription drug benefit under Medicare, 
in fact in many ways they are going to cut back on Medicare. At a time 
when we need to strengthen Social Security, at a time that we need to 
raise the COLA, the President and the Republican leadership are dipping 
into the Social Security Trust Fund.
  Mr. Speaker, let us get our priorities right. I speak to veterans 
virtually every week in the State of Vermont. We have many town 
meetings. What they tell me is when they apply for a benefit it takes 
6, 7, 8, 10 months for them to get that benefit processed, and the 
reason is that in many instances the Veterans Administration is 
understaffed and is unable to process those claims.
  Is it more important to give tax breaks to millionaires and 
billionaires, or is it more important to make sure that our veterans 
get the benefits to which they are entitled?
  Mr. Speaker, just this last week, a couple of days ago, there was a 
front page story in the New York Times which talked about how middle 
class parents are finding it harder and harder to pay for the college 
costs of their kids. The average American young person graduating from 
a 4-year college ends up $20,000 in debt excluding the debt incurred, 
and the growing debt incurred, by their parents.
  Is it more important to protect the middle class and make sure that 
the young people of this country can go to the college that they want 
and do that by significantly expanding Pell grants and other financial 
aid programs, or is it more important to give tax breaks to 
millionaires and billionaires, to people who provide huge campaign 
contributions to Members of this Congress and the White House?
  Mr. Speaker, all over this country we are facing a disaster in terms 
of child care. Working families are unable to find affordable quality 
child care. We have people who are paying too much and getting too 
little, and the children are suffering. Yet the Federal commitment to 
child care is minimal.
  Is it more important that we take care of the youngest children in 
this society and protect working families who want quality child care 
for their kids, or is it more important that we give huge tax breaks to 
the wealthy and the powerful?
  Mr. Speaker, in my State and all over this country there is a 
terrible housing crisis.
  The bottom line is let us repeal the tax breaks for the richest 1 
percent, let us lower the deficit, and let us take care of the middle 
class of this country.

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