Richard Gephardt: “on my way in here this morning in the dawn's early light, I was thinking of proper titles for this bill. I am sure it…”

“on my way in here this morning in the dawn's early light, I was thinking of proper titles for this bill. I am sure it has some classy title that has been given it by its sponsors. How about the ``Special Interest Relief Act''? How about the ``Deficit Re-Creation Act''? How about the ``Plunder Medicare and Social Security Act''? Mr. Speaker, I ask Members to vote against this bill. It has been a long night, a long night of a conference to put together the biggest tax bill in the history of our country. And as the gentleman from New York just said, it was done in a cloud of secrecy. Democratic Members of the House were not allowed in the meetings where this bill, the largest tax bill in our history, was put together. And so what we have today is a giant relief act for special interests in this country, not for the people of this country. And we are not acting on the most important crisis that faces our country today which are runaway, back- breaking electricity prices on the West Coast of the United States. The President said he came as a uniter, not a divider. He said that he would collaborate with Democrats and that the parties would work together. Yet from day one on this bill, it has been my way or the highway every day. I dare say there was more collaboration in this conference between Republican Members and special interests than between Republicans and Democrats to find the right bill.”