Gerald Kleczka: “Mr. Speaker, I am really tickled pink to have the opportunity to come down here and talk about this repeal of the phone…”

“Mr. Speaker, I am really tickled pink to have the opportunity to come down here and talk about this repeal of the phone tax. As was indicated, this repeal will cost some $20 billion to the treasury, or putting it another way, Americans will be saving $20 billion over a 5-year period. To put that into perspective, the President has recommended this Congress pass a drug benefit for the senior citizens on Medicare. The 5-year cost of that is $40 billion. But my Republican colleagues do not support that so we probably will not do it for the seniors; but this phone repeal could fund one-half of that Medicare drug benefit for seniors, just to put it into perspective. Now, I guess people are going to ask, what is this worth to me? I have a copy of a phone bill here from the State of Virginia from the Bell Atlantic Phone Company. This is for the other services and charges. If I could direct Members' attention to number seven, it is tax and Federal, the savings to the consumer here, 97 cents.”