Morning Again in America

MORNING AGAIN IN AMERICA -- (House of Representatives - June 14, 2004)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Let me first thank the gentleman from Texas for providing this insight here tonight. I was just listening to our friend from Indiana. He was mentioning the naysayers, the ones that constantly say that it is not going to work, that cutting taxes on the hardworking American people was not going to work. And then when it started working, they started saying, as he said, all right, it is working but it is not creating jobs. Then when it started creating jobs, as our friend from Indiana reminded us, they were saying, well, but they are not high paying jobs. He mentioned how that is just a fallacy. That is just not true.

Let me give my colleagues some statistics from Florida. In Florida we are creating an incredible amount of jobs. Every single month the private sector in Florida is creating jobs. They are good paying jobs. Florida's economy is adding really good paying jobs. More than two-thirds of Florida's payroll job growth in April, by the way, was in industries that pay more than the national average. Those are the facts. Some people do not like the facts and do not let the facts confuse what they want to believe in the issue. But those are the facts.

Let me just read some of the quotes that were said by our friends in the minority party before they started seeing the results that we are talking about today. They said, for example, May 9, 2003, the Jobs and Growth Act will neither create jobs nor grow the economy. Wrong. It created jobs and it grew the economy. The majority's reckless, irresponsible tax agenda. They said that on May 5. It was neither reckless nor irresponsible to have the private sector create more than 1 million jobs for hardworking Americans. They said again, May 9, 2003, to see how badly the Republican economic plan has
failed all we have to do is look around.

Well, look around. The tax cuts have worked. They are creating jobs. We have to do more. We are working to do more.
Unfortunately, we are getting no help from our friends in the minority party because what do they propose? As opposed to cutting taxes, what did they propose? Let me tell my colleagues some specifics. They offered alternatives to major legislation just last year that would have added almost $1 trillion to the deficit. That was their answer. But that was not enough. They did not support tax cuts. What they did support and they proposed three alternative budgets on this floor, on this very floor, and each one of them raised more than $100 billion in additional taxes to the hardworking men and women in this country.

Let me just state this very clearly. If you think that your taxes are too low, that the Federal Government is utilizing your money very efficiently and that you need to send more of your money up here, then you support what they propose. But that is not what works. What works is cutting taxes, allowing the hardworking people to keep more of their money. But then they say, when it is working, when jobs are being created, but those are tax cuts on the wealthy. That is how they try to excuse it.

Let me read some of the issues, some of the tax cuts that they say are for the wealthy. Maybe I just represent kind of a different district, but one of those that they say is the marriage penalty repeal. Marriage penalty repeal. I do not know about in other parts of the country, but in Florida not only the wealthy get married. How about the death tax repeal? Oh, that is a tax cut on the rich. I do not know about other parts of the country, but in the State that I represent not only do rich people die. How about the reduction of taxes on education savings? That is on the wealthy? Not in my State, not in the State that I live. How about the small business expensing? Those are small businesses, not wealthy. How about the adoption tax credit? These are the things that they objected to because they are tax cuts on the wealthy. How about the dependent care credit? That is not tax cuts for the wealthy. Those are people that have dependents at home. How about a tax credit for employer-provided child care facilities for hardworking moms and dads so that they can go to work? That is not for the wealthy. And how about the emergency tax relief? Even this, emergency tax relief to areas affected by the attacks of 9/11. Those are for the wealthy? No, those are responsible tax cuts for hardworking men and women in this country who create jobs, who create wealth, who do not want to create more bureaucrats. They want to create more jobs, more wealth. It is working.

I thank the President for his leadership. I also want to particularly thank the leadership in this House and also my dear friend from Texas who has led the fight to look for waste, fraud and abuse in the Federal Government. He is doing a great job. I want to thank him for allowing me this time today.