John Conyers

Mr. CONYERS

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, who went to the same law school as the gentleman from California.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, my good friend from Arizona (Mr. Shadegg) made a statement about how great the seven States were doing that require a supermajority vote of the legislature. Sorry. Wrong report. The fact of it is that the Heritage Foundation report is fundamentally flawed. My source is the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which point out that five of the seven States that the gentleman cited experienced slower than average growth in tax revenue, because the study is flawed for the reason that it considers only State level tax changes rather than changes in total State and local revenues. The gentleman forgot that. It is a small point, but it is critical. By some measures, supermajority States have had less economic growth than other States, and have not had smaller tax increases. Sorry about that. Five of the seven States with supermajority requirements experience lower than average economic growth as measured by changes in per capita, personal incomes between the years 1979 and 1989. In addition, five of the seven supermajority requirement States had higher than average growth of State and local revenues as a percentage of residents' income. Case closed. Why do you not bring some accurate statistics and reports, I say to the gentleman from Arizona, who is still my friend? But let us be accurate. We are talking about constitutional amendments.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted the gentleman's attention. No; it is not a question. I am making an announcement.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I add this information, not that I am concerned that he is here or not here, but I just want the record to be correct.

Mr. CONYERS. Yes, I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I have not yielded yet. The fact of the matter is, if the Speaker's office is correct, they say he is out of town, and is not due back until late afternoon. I just wanted to announce that so that everybody will know that there is not clones of Speaker Gingrich around on the floor.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, could I gain the attention of the floor manager, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton)? He, in response to the gentleman from Massachusetts, said that he saw the Speaker. He was sighted recently this morning.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Skaggs).

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I did not yield to the gentleman. I am not going to yield to the gentleman anymore. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would say to the gentleman that we voted it out of the bill. It must have been put into the bill. I presume the gentleman was aware and awake the day we voted to take it out. What does the gentleman mean that he does not know if it was put in in the first place?

Mr. CONYERS. The gentleman does not even want to answer it.

Mr. CONYERS. That is a ridiculous question, is it not?

Mr. CONYERS. Okay. I get it. Then the gentleman from Colorado, too, was one of the ones that presumably knew about the $50 billion tax cut for the tobacco people that was put into the budget amendment?

Mr. CONYERS. I said pending tobacco settlement legislation.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentleman from Colorado.

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume just to engage in a colloquy with the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley), who made a very impassioned statement that I agree with in principle. Mr. Speaker, the problem is, though, that if we do this, it may be virtually impossible to raise the excise tax on cigarettes pursuant to the pending tobacco settlement legislation. Had the gentleman considered that?

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).

Mr. CONYERS. Did the gentleman know about it before all of us knew it? The gentleman knew about the $50 billion tobacco tax cut? Did he?

Mr. CONYERS. The $50 billion tobacco tax cut was public? The gentleman knew about it before it was revealed, after it had been found in the budget bill? Just answer the question.

Mr. CONYERS. Oh, the gentleman does not know about it?

Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I would ask if the gentleman remembers the $50 billion secret cigarette tax cut that has come into the legislation by Speaker Gingrich since April 15th? That is a question.

Mr. CONYERS. Just answer the question. I have yielded only a minute.

Mr. CONYERS. That is why I do it.

Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.