Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise because I have to respond to some of the comments I have heard on the floor. It is absolutely amazing to me; this is my ninth year in Congress. I was not planning on speaking on this bill, but to hear my colleagues on the other side saying they have been steadfast in their support to eliminate targeted tax breaks, that is mind-boggling to me, because in the 8 years that I have been here the minority party now was the majority party that controlled the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Rules. Mr. Chairman, every one of the sessions that I have been here I went before the Committee on Rules and went to the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and I said, ``Please accept my Targeted Tax Relief Disclosure Act,'' which does not eliminate them, but it says publicly identify yourself. I did that because the year before I came to this body the majority party passed the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Mr. Chairman, the Philadelphia Enquirer, in analyzing that act in a five-part series, which I distributed to every Member of this body as well as the other body, identified up to $40 billion of rifleshot provisions stuck in that bill, primarily anonymously, by Members of the majority party, which I thought was ridiculous.”