[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14253-14254]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 THE CHILD TAX CREDIT, THE REPUBLICAN TAX BILL, AND THE RANGEL PACKAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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, yesterday in Houston, Texas, I 
stood with carpenters and letter carriers, working families who work 
for the communications industry of the Nation, builders who build in 
the hot sun and the very cold winters, and those who take our plates 
away in restaurants and hotels. Some would call them the working class: 
low-income families, middle-income families. The one thing that they 
probably are not considered to be in this Nation, though I abhor any 
sense of class distinctions, but they probably would not be considered 
elite.
  So I stand here today, Mr. Speaker, in arguing on their behalf, 
particularly in light of the very inequitable tax bill that was passed 
just a few weeks ago. I think the argument could be made that the elite 
went free on that day and they marched the working poor and the working 
Americans into a locked jail and threw the key away because the $550 
billion tax cut that the President signed clearly did not represent 
working families of America, clearly did not represent individuals 
whose income may fall between $10,000 to $26,000.
  Mr. Speaker, I am not interested in having a class between incomes. I 
certainly appreciate those who have made their way in this Nation and 
have built their income and capital upon the democracy and the free 
opportunity for business in this Nation. But, frankly, I think it is 
appalling and an outrage that we can be in this Congress, take our 
income every day, take the benefits of this Nation, and refuse to 
protect the least of those. The Senate has passed a bill. It has fixed 
its error. The first error came when they refused to take the Lincoln 
amendment in the last hours, Senator Lincoln's amendment in the last 
hours of the tax negotiations. They left the working people off the 
table. So they enacted a bill that values the elite few over millions 
of Americans and left out those who make between $10,000 and $26,000.
  That is why I am here to support the Rangel-DeLauro bill as an 
original cosponsor to restore that tax credit. What does that mean? 
That when the checks are issued in July to all the millions of others 
who are doing well, a tax credit for children, $400 to make it a total 
of $1,000, who will be left out? Those who make the $10,000 to $26,000. 
Are they the deadbeats of America, are they the undeserving, are they 
the ones that my good friends on the other side continue to hammer over 
and over again they do not pay taxes? I reject it. I refute it. It is 
ridiculous. They pay payroll taxes. They pay property taxes. They pay 
sales taxes. They contribute to America's economy. How dare you provide 
this elitist response that these working families who get up every day 
and clean tables, these working families who get up every day and help 
build America, are you telling me that they do not deserve a tax credit 
on their children?
  The reason, Mr. Speaker, that I add to this is that we have the worst 
unemployment in America that we have had in America's history amongst 
any President in the United States. We have gone up to 6.1 percent 
unemployment with unemployed reaching $3.1 million. That means that the 
very people we are talking about per child tax credit may have only one 
bread winner in the family. Not two, but one. And that means that 
children who need these dollars maybe for the beginning of the school 
year are now denied because of the elitist attitude of this Congress 
and the Republican leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, I refuse to stand with that kind of Neanderthal 
thinking. I prefer standing with the hundreds who stood with me, 
working men and women who are appalled by the lack of a tax credit and 
equally appalled by the opportunity or the effort by this particular 
body, this Republican majority, to put a comp time bill on the floor of 
the House which eliminates any opportunity for individuals who get 
overtime pay and gives them only, only compensation by giving them comp 
time off. Not when they need it, Mr. Speaker, but when the employer 
says they can have it.
  So here we go. We have got a tax scenario that penalizes working 
families. We have a working bill that violates the Fair Labor Standards 
Act, and we have an overall package that we are trying to help 
Americans and we cannot seem to get it on the floor of the House. We 
need to get the Rangel-DeLauro bill, H.R. 2286, on the floor of the 
House now, this week. We must continue to fight for providing them 
along with our United States military personnel whose salaries fall 
within that $10,000 to $26,000 a year. We have got to stand to create 
jobs when we have seen such an enormous loss of jobs. Mr. Speaker what 
we have here is a failing of the United States Congress, failing of our 
constitutional duties and certainly a failing to the American people. 
Vote for the Rangel-DeLauro bill, and vote to eliminate the bad comp 
bill that will destroy working families all over America.
  Just over 1 week ago, the President signed a new law that provides 
tax cuts of $93,500 to the 200,000 taxpayers making over $1 million, 
while 53 percent of all taxpayers would get less than $100 under the 
law.
  The Republicans chose not to provide or to increase the child tax 
credit to working families making between $10,500 to $26,625 per year, 
in order to make room for a dividend tax cut.
  Republicans deliberately chose to leave these children and their 
families behind.
  Republicans also deliberately chose to drop a provision added by 
Senator Lincoln that

[[Page 14254]]

would help nearly 12 million children and their families to get the 
child tax credit--8 million of whom would get no child tax credit at 
all under the new law.
  This provision would have helped low income families with children 
who make that are working hard to make ends meet.
  On May 29, 2003 White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said, 
``Everybody was aware in the conference of what was in, and what was 
out. So that was very well-known to all the conferees, including to the 
White House. Does tax relief go to the people who pay income taxes and 
forgive their income taxes, or does it go above and beyond the 
forgiving of all income taxes, and you actually get a check from the 
government? This [GOP tax conference agreement] certainly does deliver 
tax relief to the people who pay income taxes.'' (May 29, 2003)
  Today, Majority Leader Tom DeLay responded that the House would not 
move stand-alone legislation on this issue. He said, ``There's a lot of 
other things that are more important than that. To me it's a little 
difficult to give tax relief to people who don't pay income taxes.''
  First Republicans refused to give workers the same pension rights 
that corporate CEOs have.
  Then they pushed through a $350 billion tax cut, which fails to 
increase the child tax credit for working families making $10,000 to 
$26,625 a year.
  Now, the Republicans are working to take away overtime pay with H.R. 
1119 the so-called Comp Time bill and describing it as a ``family-
friendly'' idea.
  In reality, this is the Republican's concerted, long-term attack on 
America's working families that must be stopped.


                      Support for Working Families

  Democrats are offering a package to help hard working Americans and 
create jobs.
  Democrats are taking the first step (H.R. 2286) to begin to repair 
the damage from this reckless and irresponsible tax package.
  The Rangel-Davis-DeLauro bill will provide greater tax relief to the 
families of 19 million children who make the minimum wage that are 
struggling to make ends meet.
  In addition to restoring the child tax credit provision that 
Republicans dropped in the middle of the night, the Rangel bill would 
make the child tax credit available to 1.7 million more families by 
providing that those earning $7,500 or more could get the credit.
  Under current law, the tax credit it is limited to those who make 
over $10,500.
  The Range package will benefit 19 million children in America; over 2 
million children in Texas alone.
  Furthermore, the Rangel bill would accelerate marriage penalty relief 
for families that receive the Earned Income Tax Credit. And it is fully 
paid for--the bills calls for no deficit spending.


     Democrats continue to Fight for Men and Women in the Military

  The Democratic package would make sure that our men and women in the 
military are not denied tax relief just because they are deployed in 
Iraq.
  Specifically, the bill would count combat pay for purposes of the 
Child Tax Credit.
  Republicans enacted a $350 billion tax bill, and yet they failed to 
make sure that our men and women in combat are able to take full 
advantage of the child tax credit.
  The Democratic Plan will also create jobs for the soldiers who are 
returning home, their loved ones and others in need of employment.
  These provisions are key elements of the Democratic House Jobs and 
Economic Growth package that will create more than 1 million jobs this 
year without adding one penny to the deficit.
  Democrats know that by putting money in the hands of working 
Americans and by keeping our fiscal house in order can we create jobs 
and build a strong economy.

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