[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10557]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE REPUBLICAN TAX PLAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, budgeting is about choices, whether they 
are a working family or the Federal Government. Working families know 
far too well that they cannot afford everything. They often must decide 
between making a mortgage payment or taking a family vacation or 
between paying for health insurance or buying a new car. Their 
decisions reveal their priorities. It is more important to have a safe 
home for their families and to know that they can take their children 
to the doctor if they get sick. Parents routinely forego luxuries in 
order to ensure their children are safe and secure. The future of their 
children is clearly a top priority.
  Just like working families, the Federal Government has limited 
resources, and just like working families, the decisions we make about 
how to use our limited resources say a great deal about our priorities. 
The tax package presented by the Republican leadership once again 
reveals what we have known for a long, long while: Working families are 
not their priority. When push comes to shove and difficult decisions 
are made under the Republican leadership, working families get the 
short end of the stick each and every time.
  The message Republicans are sending with their tax package is clear: 
If one is wealthy, if one is heavily invested, they deserve a huge 
amount of permanent tax relief. If one is a working parent with a 
child, forget it. Not only will their tax cut be much, much less if 
they get one at all, it will be temporary. The $1,000 per child tax 
credit will be lowered in the year 2006 to $700, proving once again 
that families are not a priority.
  The message from Republican leaders is clear: Working families are 
not their priority. I say that is a very bad policy. These are the 
toughest fiscal times that our States have seen in decades, and working 
families are suffering the consequences. As States are forced to 
tighten their belts and make cuts, teachers are losing their jobs and 
children are being taught in overcrowded classrooms. State health 
insurance programs now cover fewer children and are not providing as 
many services, and in many States families must now meet stricter 
eligibility requirements to enroll in State childcare programs, and all 
of this is done so the Republicans can give our Nation's wealthiest a 
big tax cut.
  But the fact is we have a choice. We can help States meet these 
shortfalls or we can give tax breaks we cannot afford to the wealthiest 
people in this country, people who are actually not particularly 
feeling the pain of these bad times. The Republican message is 
inescapable. The rich are more important. If one is among the more than 
1 million unemployed workers in this country who have exhausted 
unemployment benefits, this administration is saying you are certainly 
not a priority. Instead of extending benefits which would help care for 
families and immediately stimulate the economy for those who are out of 
work and out of their unemployment benefits, it is more important to 
put a little extra cash in the pockets of investors in the hopes they 
eventually will invest this extra money back into the economy.
  Republicans may on occasion say they care about American families, 
but their actions expose their feelings. When offered the choice 
between making the rich a little bit richer or helping working families 
make their lives a little easier, Republicans pick the wealthy every 
time.
  Madam Speaker, the budget process often forces us to make tough 
decisions, but if one asks me, the choices being made today are not 
difficult ones. Helping families so that they can do the best to make 
ends meet or enriching the wealthiest who do not even need our fiscal 
help is a no-brainer. In the same way that parents put the needs of 
their children over frivolous luxuries, it is time to adopt fiscal 
policies for this Nation that prove that we have our Nation's 
priorities in order, and that means, Madam Speaker, we need to work for 
hard-working families.

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