Joe Barton

I know that some Members of this body have said that this is some sort of a Republican policy gimmick. But you are not a Republican, obviously. I think you are very proud to be a Democrat.

The tax limitation works, the supermajority vote for tax increases works in Arkansas.

It is my understanding that Arkansas has had a tax limitation on amendment on the books for several decades. It requires a three-fourths vote; not a two-thirds, but even a higher standard of three-fourths. Could you comment on how that has…

But, of course, the response to that is that living in the future, living in the present, we are the world's greatest military power. No one questions that. We spend a higher percentage of our GNP today on military preparedness than we did…

On the eve of what we now call the First World War is when we got the 16th amendment that made the income tax constitutional. On the eve of the second war, which we now call World War II, we were in the throes of the Great Depression, and…

I have great sympathy for the gentleman from Virginia when he talks about a certain number of States with a small percent of the population thwarting the will of the majority. Texas and Colorado were not in the original 13 Colonies…

Again, the concept is not one that you have to be a physics major to understand. If you would realize that two-thirds is a larger number than one-half, you have grasped the principle that we are trying to establish.

On that specific point, as you know, Medicare consists of two different parts, part A and part B. Medicare part A is funded by a tax, and you have to pay it if you are working in this country. I believe it is 1.2 percent, but it is…

The intent is to, in a broad sense, keep the tax burden, the Federal tax burden, on the American people in 19 percent or less, which it has been historically.

This constitutional amendment, as all constitutional amendments, are subject to court review, which as a strict constitutionist I know that the gentleman from Colorado would support that.

I wanted to focus on this, the majority argument that you were speaking of, but before I do that I want to directly answer the question on de minimis. It is our intent that de minimis is equal or less, and in an economy that is $6…

Later this evening we are going to have a historic vote, the first vote on a supermajority requirement to raise your taxes. The amend is to my left, and you will have an opportunity to read it. When I was in the fourth grade at Travis…

All I am trying to do is keep my word to the House of Representatives when I stood on the floor and said these funds would go for cancer treatment and research. I believe that. I still at this point in time think that was the most…

In fact, we have a monologue by the gentleman from Indiana, the chairman, last year on that very point. He asked the Department of Energy and they said specifically that they did not believe that they could authorize $210 million…

That is correct. As a part of the settlement agreement, there is an alternative settlement procedure that gives the State the right to do so. That alternative settlement agreement was not a part of the public record. What is a part of the…

Since August 1994 the State of Texas has, in fact, decided not to use the $65 million to build and operate the cancer treatment center. They want to use the money for other purposes. I think that the only honorable thing to do, since I was…

Last December my sister, the only sister that I have, had a bouncing baby boy born on December 18, 1994. It is her first child and just a delightful young man. I would like to read into the Record an announcement of Parker Travis Gerro's…

We have won the debate that there needs to be an amendment. The question is what kind of an amendment? Opponents have spoken on this floor, talked about the mechanics. They have talked about issues that are not the principal issue. The…

Thirteen hundred percent since 1964. This year we are expected to spend $1 trillion, which is 1 thousand billion, $531 billion. Those numbers are from President Clinton's Office of Management and Budget. Those are not the Republican…

We reached the $100 billion spending mark at the Federal level in 1961 or 1962, and in the current fiscal year, it is expected we will expend just for interest on the national debt, over $225 billion. So we now pay more in interest than…

I would agree with that in a fiduciary sense. No cooperation in America could utilize its assets and abuse its borrowing privileges like we have here in Washington the last 30 to 40 years.

To my knowledge and myself and my staff and the Congressional Research Service and the Heritage Foundation and the Citizens for a Sound Economy and many other conservative think tanks have researched this question. We can find no record of…

1975 we spent $332 billion, for the first time spent over $300 billion. When do you think we spent $400 billion for the first time?

The gentleman is correct, because in the nine States that have tax-limitation requirements, it is a bicameral, bipartisan legislature, and my understanding is that it was a bipartisan effort.

We allow taxes to increase at the rate the economy is growing without any preconditions, and if in fact Congress wants to increase a return greater than that, then we would require a vote that requires 60 percent.