Charles Norwood: “I would very much like to respond to that. Earlier this spring, we had a tax reform tax bill. In my view, what that was…”

“I would very much like to respond to that. Earlier this spring, we had a tax reform tax bill. In my view, what that was, it was a tax rebate. The 103d Congress raised the largest amount of taxes ever raised in the history of the United States, $260 billion. What we have said, as the 104th Congress, because the people at home said it to us, 'We do not like that tax increase. We think you should cut spending to manage your affairs up there, not keeping taxing us.' Our tax reform bill puts $245 billion back into the hands of families for them to keep. None of this discussion yet has anything to do with Medicare. What we are basically saying is that young families who have an income of $25,000 and they have a couple of children at home, their tax liability goes to zero. We are saying to families that have an income of $30,000 a year, a couple of children at home their tax liability is cut by 50 percent. The whole tax reform thing is giving people back their money from the tax increase from the 103rd Congress. This money that we are saving, particularly from Part B, is going back into a lockbox. It is going back into the Federal Treasury.”