Sam Gibbons: “this week we are going to vote on what Speaker Gingrich has called the crown jewel of the contract. I am here to tell…”

“this week we are going to vote on what Speaker Gingrich has called the crown jewel of the contract. I am here to tell you this morning why you should not vote for this crown jewel. This crown jewel is a $700 billion tax cut. This is not the right time to cut taxes. This is the right time to cut the budget deficit. Every economist that appeared before the Committee on the Budget, every well-known economist in this country will tell you that the business of Congress today should be cutting the budget deficit, not cutting taxes. So this is the wrong cut at the wrong time. Let us go first to where we are in all of this. The chart that I have here to my right shows what has happened to all Americans during the last 20 years. These are families, family incomes divided into fifths, the lowest fifth on the far-right side, the highest fifth on the left-hand side. If the cameras will look closely at this chart, you will see that the upper one-fifth has gained family income of almost 30 percent in the last 20 years, while the lowest fifth of American families have lost income of almost 15 percent, and the middle income right here in the middle has stood still. That is why American are upset.…”