[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13470-13471]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     MISGUIDED REPUBLICAN POLICIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Schrock). Pursuant to the order of the 
House of January 7, 2003, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) 
is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to applaud 
the process that is beginning in the Middle East this very morning. I 
remind my colleagues of the long journey that we have taken toward 
peace. I am reminded of the continuous and ongoing negotiations of the 
administration of President William Jefferson Clinton, who believed in 
the concept of peace in the Middle East. I recall the near-midnight 
negotiations prior to the inauguration of this President that President 
Clinton engaged in. The single word I remind my colleagues of is 
``engagement.''
  I am reminded of my floor speech in February, 2001, saying to the new 
administration that you cannot cease to engage in the peace process of 
the Middle East. Unfortunately, our voices were not listened to, and so 
for at least a 9-to-10-month period the suicide bombings continued, the 
lack of engagement promoted nonpeace in the Middle East.
  Today, I am gratified that there is now a recognition that the only 
way we can bring the parties to the table is to remain engaged. I 
encourage and, of course, ask that this administration not make this a 
48-hour tailspin of

[[Page 13471]]

meetings and greetings, but that we seriously continue to engage with 
our friends in the Middle East, the Palestinians and the Israelis, and 
work with them hand in hand on the question of peace. I would ask that 
we continue to do so.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to say one word about the three-vote removal of 
the First Amendment yesterday by the FCC. Unfortunately, three 
Republican commissioners decided that the First Amendment did not need 
to be promoted in this Nation by allowing the media to be able to 
conglomerate print, TV, and radio in one hand. I had a town hall 
meeting by radio, by KPFT, where 5,000 people listened to one of the 
commissioners who had sense and indicated that America does itself a 
disservice when America extinguishes the voices of opposition.
  In small or rural markets where one conglomerate owns every voice, we 
will not hear a different perspective. Shame on the FCC. I call on this 
Congress to do something that makes sense and speak on behalf of the 
American people and reignite the First Amendment.
  Let me conclude by making an announcement to just be able to reaffirm 
that all of the promises made by the $350 billion tax cut is nothing 
but garbage. There is no truth in it whatsoever; and I am proud to 
stand here and say I voted against it. The New York Daily News says the 
poorest suffer the unkindest. They were told they were going to get a 
child tax credit, and if you are the working poor, working every day, 
providing for your family, guess what, you do not get a $400 check in 
the mail, you get zero because, unfortunately, all of the folk rushing 
to give all of the money to the richest of this Nation forgot about 
giving a tax cut to those who deserve it the most.
  And let me cite the New York Times on Sunday, June 1, that says 
``Second study finds gaps in tax cuts.'' The gaps are that working 
Americans do not really get the tax cut that they need, that 95 percent 
of this money goes to those making $374,000. Former Secretary of the 
Treasury Paul O'Neill said this is an economy geared towards the 
richest. It says, ``Clearly, low-income taxpayers will not receive any 
benefits from this law.'' It goes on to cite the egregiousness of the 
$350 billion tax cut where working poor, making $10,000 a year, do not 
get a child tax credit.
  Do Members know how many children they represent in America? Twelve 
million children are not impacted by this tax cut. Now we have the 
other body trying to fix it by proposing a Senate bill, if you will, 
that fixes it; but let me tell you how long it takes for a bill to get 
through this Congress: a long time. They are even debating the fact 
whether or not an opponent of the bill will require 60 votes.
  I can assure Members that all of the voices that were raised telling 
Members this was a bogus tax cut, those suggesting it would create 
jobs, what a joke. It takes a million dollars to create two jobs under 
the Bush plan. If the Democratic plan had passed, we would have had 
investment in health care and investment in homeland security. We would 
have had investment in transportation. What would that have done to the 
increasing job loss? It would have created more jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, a bogus tax plan has been passed. Americans need to wake 
up and deal with the idea of fighting for what is right. We will 
continue to fight for it and find a way to provide jobs and 
opportunities for Americans.

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