Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007

TEMPORARY TAX RELIEF ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - November 09, 2007)

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this debate must be somewhat confusing for the American public. First of all, almost every one of us stands and says that we want the alternative minimum tax fixed. We want it fixed because of the presumption of the alternative minimum tax, which I support and which I will not vote to repeal unless we pay for it. I want you to know that I speak as the father of three daughters, as the grandfather of three grandchildren, and as the great-grandfather of one great-granddaughter. I have listened to this debate. I am going to speak about this debate, and I am going to refer to history. My friend Mr. Ryan knows what I am going to say because I have said it before, but I believe the American people need to know this.

Let me place it in context. I have served in this body for 26 years. During that time, Republican Presidents have served for 18 of those years. A Democratic President, President Clinton, served for 8 of those years. During the Presidencies of President Reagan, President George Bush and the present President Bush, we have accumulated deficits in America of $4.1 trillion of deficit spending.

Now, there is only one person in America who can stop spending in its tracks. Just one. Not me, not anybody on this floor. We need 217 other people to do that with us. But one person can stop spending in its tracks. And in the 26 years that I have been in the Congress of the United States, no President has had a veto of a spending bill

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that spent too much overridden. Not one.

This President has vetoed no spending bills under Republican Congresses. Not one. No matter how much they spent. And, by the way, ladies and gentlemen of this House, they spent at twice the rate of growth that the Democrats under President Clinton spent.

Now, Republicans were in charge of Congress, but they were in charge of everything during the first 6 years of this century. Everything. House, Senate, Presidency.

My friend made the observation that neither side had done too well. I would suggest my side has done a lot better. Because under my side in those 8 years of the Clinton administration, we had a $62.9 billion net surplus after 8 years, and we didn't have to raise the national debt one time in the last 4 years after we got the deficits created under the Reagan administration and the first Bush administration down, from a $292 billion operating deficit when we took over to surpluses during the last 4 years, and a straight line of reduction every one of the first 4 years of the Clinton administration.

Why? Because we Democrats believe in spend and pay. You simply believe in spend and borrow. You believe that it is a politically wise policy to pursue that ``don't tax the voters, tax the children.'' Tax the children. Delay the ramifications of spending until tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, when the children will have to pay the bill, because, after all, they are not voting.

I have heard a lot of wringing of hands about PAYGO. I know you are all waiting to hear me read a quote, so I will read it to you. ``With the other body unable to pass even a budget this year,'' that was referring to a Republican Senate, by the way, ``we were obviously unable to reach an agreement on legislation to extend PAYGO and other budget rules. It is my hope that this can be done next year as part of a normal budget process. I would close by reminding our colleagues and Members that the PAYGO rule contributed to taming of deficits over the past seven years, and it is my hope that a successor to PAYGO can be developed and coupled with caps on discretionary appropriations.'' That quote, of course, comes from Jim Nussle.

As a matter of fact, President Bush's administration also said that they were for PAYGO, until they found out that PAYGO applied to cutting revenues. And because they didn't want to stop buying, I say to my friends on the Republican side of the aisle, and you knew that you would be constrained in buying if PAYGO applied to your tax cuts, which I supported for the middle-class but not for the skewing of taxes that I saw in your proposals, that you would have to stop spending, because you couldn't pay for it. So you jettisoned PAYGO, a premise that was overwhelmingly adopted by Republicans and I voted for in the 1997 Budget Act, because I believe in balancing our budget.

I have served in legislative bodies for almost 40 years, and I have found people who like to vote for spending but don't like to vote for paying. It takes no courage whatsoever, I tell my friends, to take my credit card out of my pocket and put it in there, sign the little slip and think I will never have to pay for it, because, by the way, I will be dead and gone by then and my children will have to pay the debt. That has been referred to by Mr. Portman as an immoral policy, Rob Portman, the former Director of the OMB, a former member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in very, very strong support in favor of this tax cut for millions of Americans. Will there be an offset? There will be. And, as I said, I will not vote to fix the AMT unless we pay for it. Because if we fix the AMT without paying for it, what we will say to people like STENY HOYER and every Member of this House, maybe we have a conflict of interest, because every Member of this House is going to be affected by this if we don't repeal the AMT, for those of us at this income level.

So maybe we have a conflict of interest. Maybe we want to save ourselves a little money, but we don't want to pay for it, because raising revenues takes political courage. There is no courage whatsoever in plunging our country into debt, spending and not paying. It is, as Rob Portman said, an immoral policy, lacking in courage and lacking in fiscal responsibility.

My friends, we need to pass this bill and give millions of Americans a tax cut and ensure that millions of Americans will not get a tax increase. PAYGO is a policy that demands responsibility.

Many of you voted for the bankruptcy bill, as I did. I was criticized by some because we thought that individuals ought to exercise fiscal responsibility in the managing of their finances. I think corporately as a government we ought to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, let no one be mistaken. This is precisely what this legislation offered by Chairman Rangel was designed to do, give a tax cut to millions of Americans and preclude millions of Americans from paying more, and asking other Americans to pay their fair share so those at the bottom of the rung don't have to pay more to defend our country, to educate our children, to keep our families healthy.

Mr. Speaker, this tax cut will provide 30 million homeowners with property tax relief. It will help 12 million children by expanding the child tax credit. It will help 4.5 million families better afford college with tuition deductions. It will save 3.4 million teachers money with deductions for classroom expenses.

My wife was a teacher. She died 10 1/2 years ago. She was one of the best people that I have ever met in my life, if not the best. Every year, we would spend a couple of hundred dollars, and we could afford it, maybe even a little more than that, to make sure that her kids in her classroom had things that they needed but were not provided. We are going to give teachers a tax cut to do that. Our children will be served and our teachers will be served.

In short, this bill will extend tax credits and deductions that will benefit a wide array of Americans and the American economy. And, yes, this legislation helps to restore tax fairness and once again demonstrates that this Democratic majority is committed to fiscal responsibility.

Let me restate that figure: 18 years of Republican Presidents, $4.1 trillion of deficit spending. Under Bill Clinton, 8 years, $62.9 billion net surplus. No indebtedness. No indebtedness in the last 4 years.

We are now over $9 trillion in debt. This administration has gone from $5.7 trillion to over $9 trillion. Republicans were in control of everything, and spending escalated at twice the rate it did when Bill Clinton was President.

My friends, this bill is a fair bill. This bill is responsible. This bill gives tax cuts to millions of Americans and asks some few Americans to pay their fair share. Vote for this bill. It is good for America, it is good for our people, it is the right, and as Rob Portman said, the moral thing to do.

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