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Providing for Consideration of H.R. 5970, Estate Tax and Extention of Tax Relief Act of 2006

Date: July 28, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income Taxes


PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5970, ESTATE TAX AND EXTENSION OF TAX RELIEF ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - July 28, 2006)

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, if my colleague that just spoke on the other side of the aisle cared about the minimum wage, she would have signed the discharge petition so we could have had an up-or-down vote on the minimum wage.

Mr. Speaker, if ever the American people needed evidence that the Republican Congress is putting politics before what is good for the American people, this is it. This is a cynical gimmick. It is designed to kill any increase in the minimum wage. It is an excuse for vulnerable Republicans to go home this August claiming they cast a vote in support of raising the minimum wage without actually impacting the life of a single family earning it.

Mr. Speaker, why must we make this debate about an estate tax that the country cannot afford, one which would benefit 7,500 families nationwide? Only 7,500 families.

What we want and what we need is an economy that produces a rising living standard for most American families, and right now, with rising interest rates, high gas prices, skyrocketing health care costs and a slowing housing market, it makes no sense whatsoever for the Congress to tether a modest increase in the minimum wage to billions of dollars in an estate tax cut for those who do not need them.

This measure shows contempt for the public interest, especially when the minimum wage has not been raised since 1997, when its purchasing power stands at its lowest in a half century.

Meanwhile, the Congress has voted to increase its own pay nine times since 1997. I cannot remember a single time

this body's attached its own pay increase to controversial legislation that the other party rejects outright, and I suspect it is not an accident.

For Democrats, this is simple. If this Congress can get a raise, the American people ought to be able to get one as well, and we should be able to vote on that with a clear up-or-down vote, no attachments, no gimmicks. Oppose this rule.

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