Political Quotes

“in 1997, Jennifer Dunn, a Republican from Washington, and I started this debate on the estate tax. At that time the country was in much different shape financially than it is today. At that time, we raised the issue for estate tax relief because I thought then it was punitive. It had nothing to do with the theory that the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) spoke so eloquently about, and that is to keep 3 percent or 1 percent of the people from owning 99 percent of our country. {time} 1500 We did not want to be like England where whoever got control of the land and money, and 1,450 still had it 26 generations later and people who were hardworking could not break through that ceiling because of the nobility that was enshrined in their tax code. That is why we have an estate tax. But we raised that issue, and I voted for the bill that is being proposed today, but I can no longer vote for it. Let me tell you why. It is because, as I look in the faces of these young people, you are looking at a House, a Senate and an administration that has embarked since 2001 on the most radical, irresponsible financial riverboat gamble that this country has ever seen. There has been no political American leadership that has ever done what this group of people who currently hold the power of government here in Washington have done to this country. Since April of 2001, in your name and mine, this government has borrowed $1.2 trillion in hard money.…”