Melvin Watt: “I want to start by responding to a few comments that were made by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) in his…”

“I want to start by responding to a few comments that were made by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) in his presentation. Madam Speaker, one would think that all of this talk about how taxes have gone up and revenues have gone up during the President's tenure, that it was the Democrats who were in the majority of the House and Senate during that period of time. Oh, no. Madam Speaker, the Republicans were in the majority during that period of time. So we can come and try to make a political point today on April 15, but the truth of the matter is that this debate is not about whether taxes are too high or whether President Clinton increased taxes or the Republicans are responsible for increasing taxes. That is really not what this debate is about. The debate is about the little document that my colleagues were waving around and using as a prop in this debate. Every once in a while it would be nice if my colleagues would actually pay some heed to that document. They came in here in 1994, 1995, and said that they were the most conservative group that was ever going to hit this place. Well, what is the most conservative document that we have in this country? The Constitution. Yet, during the 2-year period after they came to the majority, over 100 proposed amendments to the United States Constitution were filed.”