Lee Terry: “Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the floor another package of tax and fee increases proposed by the Clinton-Gore…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the floor another package of tax and fee increases proposed by the Clinton-Gore administration for the fiscal year 2001. This legislation proposes additional taxes and fees totaling $116 billion over the next 5 years. Now, this body a few weeks ago and the Senate just last week and this week, hopefully, will deal with the conference report on our budget. The thing to keep in mind is that our budget does not raise taxes. In fact, it cuts taxes by $150 billion over the next 5 years. Our budget protects the Social Security Trust Fund. Our budget pays down the public debt. And we did this without asking our constituents and the American public to pay one more dollar of their hard-earned money to the Federal Government. We think it is better that they keep their money in their pockets than in Washington. This resolution exposes the Clinton-Gore tax-and-fee package for what it really is, $116 billion in new fees and taxes. The President and Vice President propose 84 new spending programs. So as maybe some of the American public have watched the nightly news, they may have said, how do they do it? I hear them talking about spending or taking down the debt and expanding the size of government. Well, what they are not hearing is the fact that in that proposal is $116 billion worth of new taxes to do that. That is the smoke and mirrors.…”