Jim Inhofe: “I am kind of slow, and it takes me long to get my train of thought back. During that time, it was the first ever…”

“I am kind of slow, and it takes me long to get my train of thought back. During that time, it was the first ever retroactive tax increase, in other words, we passed a tax increase that went back and imposed taxes on people who were adjusting their behavior and their activities predicated on the existing tax structure at the time. They made it retroactive. The third thing they did--the top tax rate increased to 39 percent, a dramatic increase. It has been increased again since then to 42 percent. The tax on Social Security for many of the senior citizens in this country went up by 50 percent to a total of 85 percent. I believe we need also to make a couple of statements in response to what has been said about the economy, this glowing economy that we supposedly have right now. I have some figures here that show there is no glowing. I know if you say it is long enough, the people will believe it. Then they will say, ``Well, someone's doing a very good job.'' But it is not. Right now, under President Clinton, the economy grew at a slower rate in the first quarter of 1996, 2.8 percent, than it did in the first quarter of 1992, which was 4.7 percent. There have been lost--this comes right out of the Bureau of Statistics, published on May 3, 1995-- in that particular year, 17,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in April, bringing the total number of jobs lost in that sector to 338,000 since last March.”