U.S. Newswire

February 6, 2002 Wednesday

SECTION: National Desk

Gephardt Floor Statement on the Republican Resolution on Tax Cuts

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Feb. 6

The following is a transcript of remarks delivered by House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt on the house floor:

"Mr. Speaker: I urge Members to vote 'no' on this resolution. I am disappointed that the majority prevented us from offering a bill that would protect Social Security from further raids on the trust fund.

"This is not a vote about taxes; it is a vote about protecting Social Security. It is about honoring our commitments to the American people who have paid their hard-earned dollars into the Social Security trust fund. It is about ensuring security and retirement for every citizen.

"The resolution before us has no binding effect. It is an effort to divert attention from Republican mismanagement of the budget. Less than one year after passage of the Republican tax and economic plan, more than $4 trillion of the surpluses has miraculously vanished, wiped out, gone, finished. And the Social Security trust fund will be attacked every year for the next ten years.

"One might say, what is happening, what is going on? Both parties repeatedly voted to safeguard the trust funds. We voted for lock boxes. We said that they would be inviolate, that they could not be picked. For years we have been promising the American people, the baby boomers, that the trust funds would only be used to strengthen Social Security and pay down the national debt. In fact, the Republican leadership insisted many times on bringing lock box bills to the floor.

"Now we know that they were never serious about those bills. They were ploys. They were ruses. And the votes that were taken were not serious, and they were not honest.

"We have had an historic reversal. Instead of talking about surpluses as far as the eye can see, now we are again talking about deficits as far as the eye can see. Instead of shoring up Social Security and Medicare, we are facing a situation where the trust fund will be tapped for other functions of government.

Instead of preparing for the baby boomers and their retirement, instead of adding a prescription drug program to Medicare, we are faced with a debate about saving Social Security without resources and how to dig ourselves out of the deficit ditch. The Republican slogan seems to be: Save Social Security last, not first.

"This resolution has a simple purpose. It is to hide the fact that Republicans are breaking their promises, going back on their commitments. This is an effort to change the subject. The American people should not and will not be fooled by this transparent ploy, and they should be reminded that the problem is that we are operating under a Republican economic policy and Republican budget priorities.

"We need to invest in people. We need to pass tax cuts that promote long-term economic growth and opportunity, and we need to honor our commitments to the baby boomers who paid their money responsibly into the Social Security trust fund. That is our challenge, and that is what the American people want us to do. That is what we need to do this year, and we should do it together, not in a partisan manner.

"Mr. Speaker: let us get about doing what we need to make the budget whole and to invest in the priorities that the American people want us to be investing in. This resolution is nonsense. Let us get about saving Social Security first."

CONTACT: Erik Smith or Kori Bernards, 202-225-0100 both for House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt Web: http://democraticleader.house.gov/