Angie Craig: “I hope today is a day of reckoning. Again, a time when we all awaken to the fact of what our Government does to us--not…”

“I hope today is a day of reckoning. Again, a time when we all awaken to the fact of what our Government does to us--not for us. There are many things that Government can do for us, but this is an instance where I believe Government takes too much of our money and spends it unwisely. That is why, along with the amendment that the House will be voting on today to require a two-thirds supermajority to raise taxes, why the amendment by my colleague from Georgia dealing with retroactivity in taxation, why the $500 tax credit that we have offered in our balanced budget bill that we sent down to the President, that he vetoed, is so important. Why trying to deal with a capital gains tax, trying to deal with an estate tax, reducing those rates, creating less impact on hard-working, saving, earning Americans is what this day ought to be about. I thank my colleague, the Senator from Georgia, for leading Members in this important debate on this important day. I hope other colleagues would join with us and come to the floor, talking about how all of this impacts their States and their citizens' lives. It truly does. When you watch that kind of money, whether it is 38 or 40 percent that you earn being taken away from you for purposes that in many instances you find unnecessary, it is a question that that has to be on a monthly, daily basis, brought before this Congress. I thank my colleague from Georgia for bringing this matter to our attention.”