[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13806]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     REGARDING THE CHILD TAX CREDIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, once again this week the Republican 
majority showed its true colors, a party looking out for the elite at 
the detriment of middle- and low-income working families. During the 
final negotiations on their tax package, Republicans deliberately chose 
to leave more than 12 million children behind. The omission of a 
provision that would have extended a $400 child tax credit to working 
families making $10,000 to $26,000 a year was neither an accident nor 
an oversight. The provision, which had not been included in President 
Bush's initial $726 billion proposal or the House Republicans' $550 
billion, was added in the Senate by a Democrat, Senator Blanche 
Lincoln. Why did this considerably small provision, $3.5 billion out of 
a giant $350 billion tax bill, make the Republicans' chopping block 
during their final negotiations with each House? As my colleagues 
already know, not one Democrat was allowed to negotiate the differences 
between the House and the Senate bill.
  White House press secretary Ari Fleischer probably explained it best 
when he said, ``Does tax relief go to people who pay income taxes or 
does it go above and beyond the forgiving of all income taxes and you 
actually get a check from the government for more than you ever owed in 
income taxes?'' The House majority leader supported Fleischer's claims 
yesterday when he said, ``To me, it's a little difficult to give tax 
relief to people that don't pay income taxes.''
  Mr. Speaker, what the President's press secretary seems to forget and 
what the majority leader seems to ignore is that these workers do pay 
Federal taxes. 7.65 percent of their earnings go to pay for Social 
Security and Medicare. They are in fact paying taxes. Bob Herbert of 
the New York Times called the Republican action ``the reverse Robin 
Hood'' and he wrote, ``The fat cats will get their tax cuts. But in the 
new American plutocracy, there won't even be crumbs left over for the 
working folks at the bottom of the pyramid to scramble for.''
  After realizing that the Republicans had left this provision out of 
the final tax bill, several of my Democratic colleagues introduced a 
bill earlier this week that would repair the damage from this 
irresponsible tax package. Congressman Rangel's legislation would 
provide greater tax relief to the families of 19 million children and 
the legislation is fully paid for so this relief would not add to the 
record deficits created by the President and the Republicans in 
Congress.
  Yesterday, Democrats in the House said they would not allow business 
to continue as usual around here until Republicans agreed to address 
the Rangel legislation. Not only did Majority Leader Tom DeLay say the 
House would not consider the Rangel legislation, but in attempting to 
justify this action, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) said, ``There 
are a lot of other things that are more important than that.''
  Mr. Speaker, how can the majority leader say that helping these 
children is not important? I think it is very sad, Mr. Speaker, because 
the Republican leader's statement is not shocking to anyone who watches 
what goes on around here. In fact, unlike some of his Republican 
colleagues, at least Congressman DeLay tells it like it is. And what it 
is, is that the Republican leadership continues to do the important 
work for the wealthiest elite in this country at the detriment of low- 
and middle-income families. Just 2 weeks after the Republicans passed 
their tax bill, the Tax Policy Institute released a report yesterday 
showing that the middle class tax share is set to rise, a surprise to 
no one. The report, which analyzed the three tax initiatives President 
Bush has signed into law, concluded Americans earning between $28,000 
and up to $337,000 will soon take on a greater share of the taxes than 
they had before President Bush took office. The only people that 
benefit are the millionaires.
  Mr. Speaker, I just hope that one day these Republican attacks on 
low- and middle-class people will come to an end, but so far they are 
not coming to an end and I expect them to continue with this Republican 
leadership.

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