David Thomas: “as my colleagues and I get into this discussion of H.R. 8 and the Democratic substitute, we ought not to lose sight of…”

“as my colleagues and I get into this discussion of H.R. 8 and the Democratic substitute, we ought not to lose sight of the fundamentals in this debate. H.R. 8 repeals the estate or death tax; and the Democratic substitute does not. I was interested in the minority leader's discussion under the rule in which he quoted David Stockman, a former Member, Chief of the Office of Management and Budget under President Reagan, in his book Triumph of Politics. I found it interesting because I was in the minority at the time, and the minority leader was in the majority. I was mentioned in Mr. Stockman's book, and so I am very familiar with the context and the times in which that took place. The one point that I think needs to be referenced was the fact that it was a Democratically-controlled House and a Republican Presidency. Mr. Speaker, that is entirely different than the situation that we find here today with a Republican House and a Republican President. Mr. Speaker, then-Speaker Tip O'Neill ordered his lieutenants, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means Danny Rostenkowski and others, to win at any cost was the approach to legislating. It was to make sure that you are not second in spending or in tax cuts. Mr. Speaker, when you have that kind of a climate of win at any cost, it is no wonder that we had an enormous increase in spending and significant tax cuts at the same time. That was the problem from the early 1980s.…”