Cliff Stearns: “I think we all know President Clinton said that. Who also said the rising tide lifts all boats? Many Democrat Presidents…”

“I think we all know President Clinton said that. Who also said the rising tide lifts all boats? Many Democrat Presidents have said that. Let me give information from the Labor Department, February 20, 1996: It released its employment cost index showing the smallest gain in wages and benefits since the Government began keeping statistics in 1982. Surely we need tax cuts. We have had since 1981, 19 tax increases in this country. Surely the Republican budget can have a tax cut. Bob Michel was on the floor, the former leader of our party, and he used to say son of a buck, we need some kind of tax cut for the American people. We can do better. Middle-class families work hard. They deserve tax relief. And frankly, my friends, and I credit the folks on the other side for their budget, but there are no tax reductions there. After 19 tax increases it is time we had these tax cuts, and I am glad to say the Republican budget has that. We also want to see changes in welfare. Now we have a different approach with welfare, but we believe again that we need to improve it. You keep the status quo. So the Republicans' budget is not extreme. It is reliable, reasonable and, most importantly, the Republican budget is honest. It uses honest numbers. And we have tax reductions for American families. We can do better.”