NAN A. S. HAYWORTH: “I thought for a moment there he was engaged in self-analysis when he talked about playing politics and who was holding…”

“I thought for a moment there he was engaged in self-analysis when he talked about playing politics and who was holding whom hostage over reasonable relief for working Americans when it comes to taxation. Again, facts are stubborn things. It is worth noting that this Congress together, in a bipartisan fashion, joined to create a lockbox for Social Security that kept the Social Security surplus, 100 percent of it, intact and reserved for Social Security; that it is this Congress, working together, that paid down $143 billion of a $5 trillion national debt that hangs over the heads of our children; that it is this common sense Congress, working in a bipartisan fashion, with sober, business-minded friends in the minority in a bipartisan fashion to offer reasonable tax relief and search for a way to find common ground. Indeed, that is what this legislation provides. Mr. Speaker, we offer tax relief for working Americans. We offer empowerment for the economically downtrodden. We offer a way to say death to the death tax and make sure that people stay gainfully employed and that family farms and small businesses are not sold off to satisfy the insatiable desire of those who always seek for the public Treasury personal funds. That, in the final analysis, is what this debate comes down to, Mr. Chairman. It is this question: To whom does the money belong?”