[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14655-14656]
[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. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, today's vote on the Republican child tax 
credit bill was a squandered opportunity, a squandered opportunity to 
invest in our children and their families. We missed the chance to pass 
legislation that would immediately grant our Nation's hardworking 
families an increased child tax credit. The families I am talking about 
are those with dedicated workers that put in full-time hours at a low 
wage, pay taxes, and earn less than $26,000 a year. It is unfortunate 
that Republicans believe these forgotten children and families do not 
contribute enough to deserve a break. Their actions today left me no 
doubt that their priorities are dead wrong.
  Why could the House Republican leadership not follow the other body 
and bring a clean child tax credit bill before us today? According to a 
colleague on the other side of the aisle, ``If we're going to do it, we 
should get something in exchange. If we give people a tax break that 
don't pay taxes, it's really welfare.''
  Mr. Speaker, these families are not on welfare. They do pay taxes. 
They

[[Page 14656]]

are not seeking welfare. They are seeking the same acknowledgment for 
their hard work as the rich received in the Republican tax package 
earlier, and they deserve tax relief now. This supposed party of 
compassionate conservatism has exploited the child tax credit issue to 
pass even more tax cuts for their wealthy friends. Rather than bringing 
up a child tax credit bill costing $3.5 billion with full offsets, 
which means fully paid for, they passed a bill that costs over $80 
billion with no offsets, totally unpaid for, at a time when America's 
Federal deficit will exceed $400 billion.
  Our priority should be to put money in the hands of working Americans 
while keeping our fiscal house in order. That way we can create jobs 
and build a strong economy. If we do not help our children now, I ask 
you, when will we? How can we ever expect to strengthen our Nation in 
the future when we ignore our children, 25 percent of our population, 
100 percent of our future?
  Mr. Speaker, the House Republican leadership failed our children 
today. They failed working families. The other body handed us a bill 
that would have increased tax credits for 6.5 million tax-paying 
families. The President, after hearing from the public and getting the 
pressure from the majority of the people in this Nation, actually came 
out in strong support of this cleaner legislation. He supported what 
the other body passed 94 to 2. But the bill passed today will not 
address the real needs of this Nation's hardworking, low-wage-earning 
families in the same way at all.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time to restore true compassion for our Nation's 
working families rather than our Nation's millionaires. Our families 
need to know that we have not forgotten them. They are the core, they 
are the engine, they are what makes this Nation work, and we cannot 
forget them.

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