Maxwell Frost: “Mr. Speaker, more than 6 months ago, the Republicans passed the crown jewel of the Republican agenda, tax breaks for the…”

“Mr. Speaker, more than 6 months ago, the Republicans passed the crown jewel of the Republican agenda, tax breaks for the wealthiest, costing nearly $1 trillion of the surplus. As Yogi Berra once said, it is deja vu all over again, because today Republicans are once again pushing a plan that risks Social Security and Medicare by squandering the surplus on a massive tax break. True, they have tried to disguise it this year, but to quote The Washington Post, the Republican tax package, quote, ``has little, if anything, to do with marriage. The label is a gloss for a generalized tax cut mainly for the better-off.'' Indeed, today Republicans try to take the first $200 billion step toward their goal of spending the surplus. Next they will take another couple of hundred billion for more tax breaks for the wealthiest and then another couple hundred billion dollars and then another couple hundred billion dollars. Mr. Speaker, to paraphrase a distinguished former Member of Congress, $200 billion here, $200 billion there and pretty soon we are talking about real money. Pretty soon, Mr. Speaker, Republicans will have squandered the entire surplus and, with it, our historic opportunity to strengthen Social Security and Medicare. Mr. Speaker, I support the Democratic substitute because I want to provide honest marriage penalty relief to the 61,197 married couples in my district.”