[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13810]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            CHILD TAX CREDIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to address the way that the 
Republicans have devastated the child tax credit for low-income 
families.
  When the child tax credit was created in 1975, it was for the purpose 
of helping families, not hurting them; and it was not meant to create 
divisions within parents and families, it was intended to include and 
benefit all families.
  Initially, it seemed that the Republicans and President Bush's $400 
per child increase in the child tax credit was meant for all families. 
At least, that is what we were told. According to the Bush plan, 
families would receive the checks for this credit in either July or 
August as a way to jumpstart the economy that, of course, this 
administration has crippled, losing more than $2.7 million jobs since 
the beginning of the Bush presidency.
  Somehow, though, the attempt to help families did not extend to low-
income families. The same people who were already left out of the 
President's tax cut on dividends, which President Bush, of course, 
offered the wealthiest of Americans, are the same individuals, the same 
families that the budget cuts are hitting the hardest.
  When Republican negotiators went behind closed doors without any 
Democratic conferees, suddenly the families of approximately 12 million 
children were excluded from the child tax credit. Nationwide, this 
means that one out of every six American children were excluded.
  What the Republicans did here is really revealing on two different 
levels. First, it says that their credibility really is an issue. 
Second, even worse, it says that they think that the priorities of the 
country should focus on fattening the wallets of the wealthy, not 
helping those who need help the most.
  The Republicans' actions clearly represent a credibility gap, also. 
When the tax plan first came through the House and Senate it included 
the child tax credit, but apparently that credit did not fit with the 
numbers that they needed. It did not fit with their effort to provide 
tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. They needed $3.5 billion more 
for the cuts for the wealthiest Americans, so they eliminated credit 
for all families making between $10,500 and $26,625. What a terrible 
thing to do.
  The Republicans, with the blessing of the White House, clearly 
recognized the possibility of a backlash, I assume. Otherwise, why did 
they hide their actions from public view? President Bush said that all 
Americans would receive tax relief, but that was not the case. This 
sort of double-talk is not the way to run a country, not the way to run 
this country.
  This double-talk also reflects the misplaced priorities that the 
Republicans and their leadership have for this country. What they are 
telling us is that it is important to have a dividend tax break for 
people who live well, extremely well. What they are also telling us is 
that it is not important to help those people who are struggling to 
find adequate housing, enough food, or a decent job.
  Of course, children, unfortunately, are hit the hardest. These 
children come from families where the parents work hard and play by the 
rules. They deserve the same tax credit that other parents will 
receive, and they, of course, need much more. Their families do not 
have the advantages that others have.
  In a jobs depression like President Bush has put us in, the loss of 
the $400 tax credit is really rubbing salt into their wounds. 8.1 
million taxpayers will receive no relief under the Republican tax cuts, 
and 1.6 million of these taxpayers are Hispanic. 8.1 million represents 
44 times the number of taxpayers who have incomes exceeding $1 million, 
yet the President and the Republicans have gone out of their way to 
help the wealthy.

                              {time}  2145

  In fact, those people with incomes over $1 million will receive an 
average tax cut of $93,500 in 2003. In terms of the child tax credit, 
one-half of all African-American families will not get the full tax 
credit and one-quarter will receive no tax credit.
  For Hispanic families, 40 percent will not get the full tax credit, 
while one-fifth of Hispanic families will receive no child tax credit 
at all.
  What message does this send to minorities? Of course, the Republicans 
have a checkered history of offending minorities, so perhaps this 
behavior is to be expected. But interestingly enough, the Republicans' 
actions on the child tax credit also offend military families. 
According to the Washington Post, as many as 200,000 military families 
were excluded from the increased child tax credit by the actions of the 
last few weeks.
  This is just downright wrong. We should move immediately to pass 
legislation to restore the child tax credit and we should do it now.

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