Providing for Consideration of H.R. 4297, Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4297, TAX RELIEF EXTENSION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 08, 2005)
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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, here we are just 2 weeks after House Republicans claimed that they were restoring fiscal discipline to the federal budget considering a tax bill that will make our deficits worse and drive our Nation even further into debt.
In 5 short years, the Republican party's failed economic policies have instigated $1.57 trillion in budget deficits and added $3 trillion to the national debt. By the way, during the last 4 years of the Clinton administration, we added not a nickel to the national debt and all 4 years we had a surplus.
Even Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, is sounding the alarm. He recently said, ``We should not be cutting taxes by borrowing.'' That is what we are doing. But with this bill Republicans are doing precisely that.
Now the Republican response will be as predictable as it is wrong. They will claim that tax cuts pay for themselves, but at long last can we dispense with this supply-side snake oil. Last month the incoming chairman of the Federal Reserve told the Senate, ``I think it's unusual for a tax cut to completely offset the revenue loss.''
That is President Bush's appointee to the Federal Reserve. And the Comptroller General of the United States, David Walker, recently stated, ``Anybody who says you're going to grow your way out of this problem, (deficits and debt) would probably not pass math.''
Even the President's Council of Economic Advisers admitted in 2003, ``Although the economy grows in response to tax reductions, it is unlikely to grow so much that lost tax revenue is completely recovered by the higher economic activity.''
That is why we have $1.75 trillion in additional deficits in 5 years and $3 trillion of additional debt.
So my Republican friends can stop pretending that the tax cuts in this bill will somehow magically pay for themselves. You are suggesting cuts twice as large as you were prepared to cut in spending. They will not.
Finally, let me say that this tax bill perfectly illustrates the Republican party's misguided priorities. Its centerpiece is the capital gains and dividend cuts from 2008 to 2010. Who do you think benefits from that? Certainly not those making less than $50,000 a year. They will receive 3 percent of the capital gains tax cut. The fact is 80 percent of the capital gains tax cuts go to those with incomes more than $200,000; and more than 50 percent goes to those with incomes over $1 million.
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Meanwhile, this majority has refused to address the alternative minimum tax within this bill, thereby exposing nearly one-third of taxpayers making between $75,000 and $100,000 to higher taxes next year.
I urge my colleagues: Vote for fairness.
Vote for fiscal sanity.
Vote for the Democratic alternative.
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