Richard Gephardt: “it may seem to some people watching this debate today that we have heard it before. Last year, Republicans tried to sell…”

“it may seem to some people watching this debate today that we have heard it before. Last year, Republicans tried to sell their trillion dollar tax cut to the American people. They had town hall meetings. They had a road tour across America to pump up grassroots support. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey), the Majority Leader, was on a television show and said this, ``We believe that public opinion is going to come out strong for this package as it is better understood. And we believe the President will respond to that.'' Well, the more the American people heard, the less they liked it. In fact, by the time Republicans returned to Washington in September, we did not hear a peep about the reckless plan to spend the budget surplus on an irresponsible tax cut. They have never tried once to override the President's veto of this risky and unpopular plan. It seems to me at least there would be a try, an attempt to override the veto if it is so popular and needed. So now the Republicans have a new strategy. They are taking the same chocolate cake they tried to devour in a single setting last summer and dividing it into six pieces to eat one at a time. Well, they are not fooling anyone. They have twisted and contorted the legislative process into nothing more than a marketing scheme designed to make last year's unpopular tax cut more palatable. It is bad enough that we are voting today on a costly tax cut with no committee hearings and no budget.”