[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 490-491]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. REID. I will change the subject. Mr. President, I just received a 
news flash from my office--not a pleasant one. K-Mart is going to close 
three Nevada stores, including one on Rainbow Boulevard in Las Vegas, 
one in Reno, and one in Carson City.
  I agree with my friend from Arizona; we should be talking about the 
economy. That is one thing he failed to mention, but I think we should 
be talking about that as an important issue. The economy is in trouble. 
We talked about that earlier today.
  I was struck by the New York Times today which had an article written 
by Edmond Andrews: ``O'Neill Expresses Doubts About the Tax Cut.'' Who 
is O'Neill? This is Paul H. O'Neill, who

[[Page 491]]

was Secretary of the Treasury in this administration until he decided 
he did not like what was happening with the tax policies of this 
country. And for lack of a better word, he was dumped, unceremoniously 
expelled from the administration.
  Now, he is a gentleman, and he is determined not to be too blatant in 
his criticism of the White House. But in the process of not being too 
critical, let me emphasize a few things that he said. The President's 
plan for stock dividends is something I would not have done. O'Neill 
has also talked about his discomfort with the sweeping tax cuts. He 
talked about these before his departure. And, of course, reading 
between the lines, I am sure that is one of the reasons for his 
departure.
  He told a group of executives at a public meeting in the United 
States Chamber of Commerce he would select, carefully, tax breaks that 
might help the segments of the industry having the most trouble.
  Mr. O'Neill said during his confirmation hearing in 2001 that he was 
skeptical about the wisdom of big tax cuts.
  He said he was bitter about what was going on here in Washington. And 
I quote:

       It's all about sound bites, deluding the people, pandering 
     to the lowest common denominator. Real leadership requires 
     you to stick your neck out and have a point of view.

  As has been discussed here on the floor, the proposal to stimulate 
the economy that has been propounded by this administration is, using 
the words of some, bizarre, crazy. So I think it is important the 
President reexamine this proposal that would give huge amounts of money 
to rich people like him, like the Vice President, like Michael Eisner, 
the head of Disney. I was told here on the floor yesterday that he will 
get $2.6 million extra money each year. That is not going to stimulate 
the economy. But I guess if I had my druthers, it would be I would not 
be spending so much time here on the floor and we would be getting to 
the business that should be before the Senate; that is, doing the 
appropriations bills, the 11 that were undone, bringing some of the 
nominations the President has told us last Wednesday at the White House 
he would like to have quickly.
  I wish I were not here doing the things I have done in the last 
couple of days and we had gone about the business of the Senate. We 
cannot do that until this organizing resolution passes. I hope we can 
do that. Then we can talk about the things the Senate should be doing, 
rather than doing the work some refer to as kind of inside politics, 
inside the beltway.
  Mr. President, is my friend from Kansas going to speak soon?
  Mr. ROBERTS. I am ready to proceed.

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