[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           DEMOCRATIC AGENDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, the Democrats gave the Republicans a gift 
last Friday. Let me give you a drum roll here. It is a wonderful gift 
given by the left to the conservatives here in Washington, D.C. Let me 
tell you what that gift was. It was the Democrat agenda. They call it 
the new direction. Someone said after they released this agenda that it 
was a new direction. When you are going in circles, you are constantly 
going in a different direction every time you go around that circle. 
And that is what the opposition party here in this Chamber is doing, 
they keep going in circles. It is the same old ideas.
  They call it an agenda, but it is more like the Cliff Notes for 
Liberal Lunacy, Mr. Speaker. The theme of their agenda is best 
described as, well, promise, tax, spend. Promise, tax, spend. It is 
what they do best. And it is encouraging to see, and it shows a stark 
difference between the two parties and where we want to take our 
country, Mr. Speaker.
  They say fiscal responsibility. That is one of their agenda items. 
Well, that is a wonderful thing to advocate, but it is laughable coming 
from Democrats. Here on this House floor, just this year, the 
opposition party has asked for $45 billion in new spending; $45 
billion. And they call that fiscal responsibility. That is just 
amazing. And do you know what? They want to have all these new spending 
programs and call it fiscally responsible. Well, how are they going to 
do that? How are they going to pay for it? By raising every American's 
taxes. That is how they will do it.
  They say roll back the Bush tax cuts. What that means is every 
American will pay more next year if the Democrats are in control than 
if Republicans are in control. That is what it means.
  Energy policy. Energy policy. They want to lower gas prices and 
achieve energy independence. It sounds good. It is very good. Their 
voting record is far different from that. As we proposed ways of 
exploring for new energy sources, oil and gas, renewable energy, 
putting forward bold ideas here on the House floor, they just vote 
``no.'' We want to put out tax incentives for new innovation and new 
ideas for energy production. They say ``no.'' We want to drill and 
explore for energy in Alaska. They say ``no.'' One hundred eighty-four 
Democrats voted against exploration of ANWR; 196 Democrats voted 
against the passage of the Gas Act to relieve high fuel prices for 
every American; 124 Democrats voted against the Energy Policy Act of 
2005, which provided tax incentives and energy production improvements.
  Look, the Democrats' rhetoric is far removed from the reality of 
their voting here on the House floor. But let us talk about what they 
have done to energy. When you constrict the supply of energy and the 
demand goes up, costs go up for the consumers. As demand rises and 
supply is constricted, prices go up. It is very simple, basic 
economics. Well, the Democrats are in favor of constricting that supply 
and making the costs go up. That is the policies they have advocated.
  But let us move on to taxes. As I said, they have all these new 
spending proposals, but what are they going to do? Let us talk about 
the tax cuts the President has implemented in the last 5 years. One 
hundred eleven million American taxpayers have seen their taxes decline 
by an average of $1,800. That is a wonderful thing for the American 
people. Over 5 million individuals and families will see their income 
tax liabilities completely eliminated because the President cut taxes 
across the board. So if you pay taxes, you have received a tax cut, Mr. 
Speaker, but those that don't pay any taxes didn't receive a tax cut. 
That is who the Democrats are saying are left behind by tax cuts. Well, 
it is a basic notion of fairness, Mr. Speaker. If you pay taxes, we 
have cut your taxes. But if you don't pay taxes, how can we cut your 
taxes? So I think the American people should remember that when the 
Democrats talk about Republicans not cutting everyone's taxes.

                              {time}  1530

  Let us talk about the economic growth that we have implemented as a 
conservative party here in the House and the Senate with a good 
President working hard. We have had real per capita disposal income 
growth of 8.5 percent increase since 1999.

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