Charles Rangel: “I wanted to take a minute or two to offer a truce to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) on this class warfare…”

“I wanted to take a minute or two to offer a truce to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) on this class warfare and would agree that we could find some meeting of the mind if we could get into the Republican rhetoric some talk about preserving the Social Security system, talking about the Medicare system, talking about prescription drugs, talking about improving education. We have here a bill offered by the majority that talks about repealing the estate tax 10 years from today. When I asked the Joint Taxation Committee how much would it cost if we took last year's bill and put it into effect immediately, they said $662 billion. So I said there is no way in the world for the Republican leadership to maintain the ceiling of $1.6 trillion that the President has put on the bill. If they have already spent $953 billion for the marginal rate changes, another $400 billion for child credits and for removing the marriage penalty, there is $200 billion left. How are they going to get this $662 billion foot into this $200 billion shoe? And they did it; they really did it. They did it by saying if one wants to protect their estate, do not die for 10 years. What we are saying is that the Republican bill might make some sense if that was the only thing we had before us, but we have an alternative that everybody that can read the bill would know that it makes more sense to get instant relief from the Democratic bill for more people and right away.”