JOHN LINDER

when the Republican transition occurred in December of 1994, I was charged with the responsibility of interviewing people and finding hires for the top five positions in the House, and one of those was Parliamentarian. I frankly came at it…

I urge the House to approve this rule in order to give the House the opportunity to consider the merits of the underlying legislation. This bill permanently extends the full $1,000 child tax credit that the Congress and the Bush…

If we could lower the cost of production in Florida of fruits and vegetables by 15 percent, Latin America could not compete with us. If we could lower it by 20 percent, we would blow them out of town.

I hope the House overwhelmingly approves this resolution. The U.S. and EU not only have shared values and an indisputable friendship, but also shared global responsibilities. Responsibilities that are grave in light of the terrorist threat…

Reclaiming my time, on that point, people have said to me over the years, well, will people quit consuming? The studies that we have shown from 1945 to 1995 is that the consumption economy is a very steady predictor of economic activity…

There are 8 to 12 million people living in the shadows of our life doing jobs in America that other people are not doing. You could not get a crop out of the ground in your district without some of these folks. You cannot build a house in…

My understanding is, and the gentleman from Georgia could tell better than me, we spend about $34 billion a year on the earned income tax credit. The reason it was put into place many years ago was to relieve people at lower income…

Realtors would come in my office and say, we need the deductibility of home interest to calculate if they can afford to buy a house. My response has always been a little bit flip. I say, well, if you think that the deductibility of…

first of all, the IRS would be gone. Our Treasury Department would have several thousand people contracting with the States to do the collecting. Forty-five States are already collecting sales tax. They have mechanisms in place to judge…

We hear from everyone, and you talk about it, and people say it will never happen. This town responds to our constituents, and if the American people want this to pass, it will pass. There is no organized opposition to it. If the American…

let me close with one point, and that is 47 percent of America does not pay any income taxes today. They pay payroll taxes, but we have a huge bias that is a dangerous bias in my judgment because people who do not pay taxes are…

Seventy-four percent of the money that goes to not-for-profits come from businesses they run. Universities sell hats and mugs, the Red Cross sells blood. Eighteen percent comes from the checks we write, and the rest comes from interest…

the average income-earner, paying the 28 percent withholding and their share of the 8 percent of the payroll tax, would have a 56 percent increase in take-home pay the next day.

Let me just address an issue you raised that is kind of interesting and it is a bit arcane. Health care. We made a decision in the 1940s to allow corporations to deduct health care insurance and not have it treated as income to the…

the 23 percent was calculated in 1995, and since we have had significant tax cuts since then, it may be less than 23 percent. We have to go back to the committees that the gentleman deals with on the Committee on Ways and Means to have new…

their own study, because the gentleman and I have met with them, shows the economy will grow faster under this system than the current system.

Mr. Speaker, our Nation's Tax Code remains hopelessly complex. Just a few years ago, it was so convoluted from years of tax changes that it punished married taxpayers merely because they were married. Unfortunately, only under this current…

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 585 is a closed rule that provides for the consideration of H. Res. 581, expressing the sense of the House regarding rates of compensation for civilian employees and members of the uniformed services of the United…

H. Res. 557 was introduced to recognize the Iraqi people's suffering under Saddam Hussein, the significant advancements being made in Iraq since last March, and the courage of U.S. and Coalition Forces as they strive to bring order and…

The adoption of the rule will put in place limiting language that will prevent any expansion of those benefits.

as we have just learned in the last hour or so, and the chairman has just learned it here, someone somewhere slipped language into the leg branch bill that expands dental and vision health insurance benefits for Members and employees of…

the gentleman was on the floor when this happened and knows that we tried to explain at the time that the amendment to the rule was effectively a striking amendment that said that, if the rule passes as amended, in no way will any…

the impact of this amendment would just delete any possibility that any increases or expansions of dental care or vision care will be expanded.

I do not agree with my Massachusetts colleague who said it is dumbing down democracy to do suspensions and not have amendments. To get to a conclusion at many times is good for the process, good for the country.

Mr. Speaker, if we just take that last comment by the gentleman from Texas and play it over and over and over, we would have today's debate, because they are concerned that people who pay taxes will get tax relief. We have over the last 40…