Political Quotes

“Mr. President, S. 1415, the tobacco legislation now before the Senate, was ordered referred to the Committee on Finance on May 13, 1998. It was so referred because the Senate Parliamentarian determined that the bill is in the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee. That action preserved the jurisdiction over tax legislation for which the Finance Committee has been responsible for 181 years. The Record should be clear that this is indeed a tax bill. The Parliamentarian has so determined; the Joint Committee on Taxation has concurred. One may refer to certain provisions of this legislation as ``annual payments,'' ``lookback assessments,'' or ``fees,'' but they are taxes. As Richard Cardinal Cushing said, ``When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.'' Call it whatever you like, but this bill raises taxes on tobacco, and we're not fooling anybody to suggest otherwise. And as I have said, taxes have been the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance for going on two centuries now.”