Sam Gibbons: “this is a time when we, as Members of Congress, should be deliberative and we should take our time in doing the Nation's…”

“this is a time when we, as Members of Congress, should be deliberative and we should take our time in doing the Nation's business. This is a very, very important piece of economic legislation. It is a very, very important piece of social legislation. The Senate, when it will look at it, will call this a $700 billion tax cut. That is because they prefer to look at it in its longer term rather than the very short term that we House Members look at it. This is the wrong time in America's history to be cutting taxes. This is a time in America's history to be cutting the deficit. Why? Because America is at full employment today. Why? Because America is using its maximum factory capacity utilization today. Factory capacity utilization today in America is the highest it has been in 15 1/2 years. The Federal Reserve knows it; that is the reason why they have increased interest rates 7 times in the last 14 months. Every sensible economist knows that this is the wrong time to be cutting taxes. They tell us it is only time, the right time, to cut the fiscal deficit. This bill, when it comes up, and it is going to come up, they have twisted enough arms to get it up, is an inequitable piece of social justice. Let us take the capital gains issue. It is a huge item in all of this, and who gets it? Only 8 percent of all taxpayers ever take a capital gains, 8 percent.…”