[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14350]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     EXPANDING THE CHILD TAX CREDIT

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, for the last few days the Democrats have 
been demanding that the Republicans bring up the child tax credit and 
extend it for lower-income working families. The Senate passed this 
bill. It is time for the House to bring it up. What do we hear today? 
What have the House Republicans done? Basically what they have done is 
to take this very small amount of money, $3.5 billion that will pay for 
these 12 million kids to get their child tax credit, and they have now 
expanded it, they are not paying for it and they are trying to cover 
and pay $82 billion for an expanded tax break for wealthier 
individuals.
  Why is it that we cannot just take up the Senate-passed bill, give 
these 12 million kids and their parents a tax break that they deserve, 
and instead we are holding this bill hostage so that we can have more 
tax breaks for wealthier people and deal with other tax issues that are 
not germane to these 12 million kids? I resent the fact that the House 
Republicans are now holding this bill hostage, holding these working 
families hostage to try to expand tax cuts for other people and 
wealthier individuals.

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