Charles Rangel: “As we close the debate on this issue, quite a number of the majority Members are concerned about the President of the…”

“As we close the debate on this issue, quite a number of the majority Members are concerned about the President of the United States getting involved in spending programs. I would just want the Record to be clear that the President will not be involved with any spending programs that are not supported by the majority Members in this House and the majority of the Members on the other side. So if my colleagues do not want to support any of these programs, then get together with the appropriation committees to see what we are going to do, but let us not use the legislative process to send messages to the other side or send messages to the President. Now, this is a good piece of legislation, but some of us, even though we supported the commitment to the reduction of the national debt, thought that we should have included the President's retirement plan that gave incentives for low-income workers to save. And the last time this bill was on the floor, Members had a chance to participate because it was not on the suspension calendar. The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) had an amendment that would have improved upon this bill and got over 200 votes, as I recall. Many of the Members who worked on this piece of legislation that once again is before us wish that this could have been a part of the package so that all of us, in a unanimous way, could say that it helps all of the workers in different income categories.”