Martin Frost

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize and congratulate the Arc of Dallas for its efforts in improving the quality of life of persons with mental retardation and related developmental conditions. The Arc of Dallas will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year and deserves to be recognized for its accomplishments in my district. The Arc of Dallas formed when a small group of concerned parents met in 1951 to discuss their children's educational needs. This small group was the beginning of an organization that grew into the largest mentally handicapped advocacy group in the Dallas area. Today, there are chapters of the Arc across the United States. While the Arc of Dallas remains connected to the national office, it also works independently to reach the goals of the Dallas community. The Arc of Dallas works diligently to accomplish its goals and has produced impressive results. Presently, one person in every 10 families in the Dallas area, about 60,000 individuals, has some form of mental retardation and thousands more have related conditions. It is no surprise that in 2000, the Arc of Dallas directly helped nearly 26,000 people. This organization truly makes a difference to the lives of many constituents in my district. An example of the great success of this advocacy group is it's day- camp program. Last year was the first year to offer a spring and summer day-camp program for children ages 5 to 21. It made a difference in the lives of 140 children last year. This year, the day-camp program will run for 11 weeks and will offer fun summer activities for nearly 220 children such as field trips, crafts, computer centers and outdoor activities. Programs like these truly demonstrate the success of the Arc of Dallas. Once again, I am very proud to see the honorable work being accomplished in my district. The Arc of Dallas has made a difference in so many peoples' lives in the 50 years of their existence. The difference they are making is immeasurable. I know my colleagues will join me in saluting the Arc of Dallas and chapters across the Nation.

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, Democrats support tax relief for American families. Let me say that again so that everyone understands. Democrats want fair and meaningful tax relief for working American families. But, Mr. Speaker, Democrats want tax relief in the context of a real budget with real numbers. The budget passed by the House yesterday is, quite frankly, bogus. It is bogus because it uses phony numbers and faulty assumptions. It is bogus because it has been written to be rewritten. The Republican majority has used winks and wishes instead of the real numbers that would give the American public the real picture of what is really going on with the Federal budget. Here is the bottom line: Democrats do not want to go down the same path we found ourselves on 20 years ago after the last big tax cut endorsed by a Republican President. Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues have, for the past few months, waxed ever so eloquently that the surpluses now flowing into the Federal Treasury are merely signs that Americans are overtaxed. They say the money which is forecast to come rolling into the Treasury over the next 10 years belongs to taxpayers and should be returned to them. Mr. Speaker, Democrats do not disagree that American families need tax relief, but we need to put that tax relief into context. The country ran up a $5 trillion debt because of the tax cut we passed in 1981. The real story is that the national debt belongs to every man, woman, and child in this country. The real story is that those projected surpluses are just that, projections. We have no idea if they will ever materialize. Frankly, it seems more than a little foolhardy to base our economic security and prosperity on wishes and winks. We passed a bankruptcy reform bill a few weeks ago that says American consumers have to own up to their debts and cannot just erase them so they can go out and spend more money they do not have. Well, it seems to me that we need a little of that reform in this Chamber. Congress has spent the past 15 years struggling to get deficits under control; and now, finally, we are on the road to paying back those huge debts. Those are the same debts that have forced the Congress to ignore pressing national needs like infrastructure development and replacing or modernizing sewer systems, roads and highways, and our Nation's airports. We have been forced to put off modernizing our military, ensuring that every child has access to a good education, providing a real prescription drug benefit for our seniors, and shoring up Social Security and Medicare to prepare for the retirement of the baby boom generation. But now the Republicans want to ignore our debt and ignore our national needs just so they can give us another tax cut like the one they gave us 20 years ago. Yesterday, any number of times, Members on the other side of the aisle said their constituents want their money back. But, Mr. Speaker, we as a country have an obligation to pay off the debts we incurred because of a tax cut we enacted 20 years ago. The Reagan tax cuts were supposed to give Americans their money back. But look what those tax cuts got us. They got us high unemployment, high interest rates, and an economy that only began to recover when the Congress drastically cut spending on national priorities and raised taxes. Mr. Speaker, the tax cuts of 20 years ago were nothing more than a game of three-card monte, and the tax cuts the Republican majority is rolling through the Congress in 2001 are just another version of the same scam. As I have said before, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. And these promises are just that: too good to be true. The Republican majority is incapable of seeing the truth in the budget numbers. Instead, they come out onto the floor day after day to say that Democrats only want to perpetuate big government, to make it grow, and fritter away the hard-earned money of American taxpayers. Where do they get this? This is not about big government, this is about responsible government. This is not about keeping anyone's money, this is about paying off the debt and investing for the future. Mr. Speaker, Democrats want tax relief, and we want tax relief in the context of fairness and in the context of real numbers. We want to provide real relief from the unfair marriage penalty for those couples who pay more taxes just because they are married, but we do not want to provide relief for those who already get a marriage bonus under the code, as the Republicans would do. We want to increase the child care tax credit and make sure that increase is meaningful for those families who need it most. If the Republican majority is so dedicated to returning money to the taxpayers, why is it most of the marriage penalty relief in their bill does not become available until the year 2004? Why is it their bill will not be fully effective until the year 2009? And why, Mr. Speaker, is it that the Republican bill does not make the child tax credit, something that would really help families, fully effective until 2006? One might think taxpayers, after hearing all this big talk in Washington about giving them back their money, might say, ``Show me the money.'' But for most American families there will not be any money to show. Mr. Speaker, it is time to take off the blinders and deal straight with the taxpayers. Families who put off facing harsh realities often find themselves in serious financial consequences. The same holds true for the Congress. We need to face up to the fact that we cannot afford a $2.4 trillion tax cut that benefits primarily the wealthiest of Americans while simultaneously trying to save Social Security and Medicare, making sure every child gets a good education, modernizing our military forces, facing the crises in foreign countries, and giving seniors a real prescription drug benefit. We should not pretend, Mr. Speaker. That is not what we were elected to do. Mr. Speaker, I support providing relief to married couples who are penalized in the Tax Code simply because they are married. I support increasing a child tax credit and ensuring that it is available for lower-income working families. Undoubtedly many will vote for this bill today because they, too, support these changes in the Tax Code. But we continue to hope our Republican brethren will wake up and smell the coffee. They cannot have their cake and eat it, too. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, it is very clear what we have before us. We have basically a sham budget on the other side with the equivalent of the magic asterisk of 20 years ago giving the chairman of the Committee on the Budget the authority to change great portions of the budget. Why can we not have a real budget? That is all that is asked on our side. Let us do this on the up and up. Unfortunately, the other side has not chosen to do that. Mr. Speaker, I urge people to vote against the budget and for the Democratic substitute that is a real budget. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bentsen). (Mr. BENTSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones). (Mrs. JONES of Ohio asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bentsen). (Mr. BENTSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee). (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey). (Ms. WOOLSEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume; and I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss), my good friend, for yielding me the 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues want to pretend they can give tax cuts to the very rich without hurting Social Security or Medicare, without hurting education or the environment. Mr. Speaker, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is; and this budget is too good to be true. They refused to admit that they cannot do it all. They do not want to admit that their $2 trillion tax cut comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is going to be heating programs for the working poor, prescription drugs, the national defense, family farms, and better schools for our children. Because, Mr. Speaker, there is no way one can afford these massive tax cuts and invest in education, provide prescription drug benefits, help people warm their homes in the winter; that is, not if one stands firm against raiding Social Security and Medicare. The numbers just will not add up. But I think my Republican colleagues know that. They do not want to confess how much they will shortchange other important priorities to pay for these tax cuts. So instead of a real budget, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues propose a ``3-card monte'' budget. It puts off confronting harsh realities. It postpones the hard choices. It says our numbers might not add up; and when they do not, the Republican chairman of the Committee on the Budget will adjust them. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on the Budget did not report a budget resolution. It reported a delegation of authority to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle). There are tax cut numbers and total revenue numbers in this budget. But section 10 says ignore them. Section 10 says the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) will adjust the revenue figures to take account of any additional surpluses projected by CBO. He can increase the size of the permitted tax cuts. He can reduce the appropriate level of public debt, or he can do both. Last year's budget also allowed the Committee on the Budget chairman to determine how much, if any, additional surplus to devote to tax cuts. Three weeks ago, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) used this authority to adjust last year's tax numbers to make room for this year's first tax bill. It does not matter that there is a new President, a new Congress, a new set of priorities. Republicans say they do not need to see whether these new priorities fit with tax cuts of this size. The only priorities that count are those of the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle), and he can decide to devote all of the surplus that is needed to fit this year's bills. Mr. Speaker, here we go again giving him the same unilateral authority for next year, but this time the Republicans do not stop at tax cuts. There are aggregate spending numbers in this budget. There is an energy number and an education number, and there is a defense number and an agriculture number. Section 6 says ignore all these numbers. Come July the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) will look around and decide for the House what the spending numbers really are. Mr. Speaker, I have to say, the chairmanship of the Committee on the Budget is looking better every day. The gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) can rewrite the numbers without a hearing and without a vote of any committee. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman can do it without any House action at all. Make no mistake about it, today we vote to grant the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) extraordinary discretion to change the whole spending side of the budget. And as if this broad spending authority is not enough, there are plenty of reserve funds to go around, too. There is a separate reserve fund for fiscal year 2001 defense, agriculture and other critical needs, a special fund for education, a fund for emergencies, one for Medicare, another for this, for that, and for the other thing, too. Years ago Mr. Domenici, the chairman on the Senate side, faced a number of questions about a reserve fund in his budget. Frustrated, he tried to explain the notion once and for all with this phrase, ``The money is in the resolution and the money is not in the resolution, and if you cannot see that, you must be blind.'' Where I grew up, if you could not see through a ruse like that, you lost your wallet, your shirt, your reputation, not your eyesight. A reserve fund means that the numbers in the budget are not worth the paper they are printed on; Republicans can adjust them as they go along. Mr. Speaker, this turns the budget process on its head. We will no longer use the budget to decide if we can afford one whole set of proposals viewed together. We will no longer enforce the totals we decide on in the budget. Instead, the Committee on the Budget chairman will determine, as each proposal comes up, if he likes it enough to adjust the budget levels to accommodate it. What a mockery. My Republican colleagues on the Committee on Rules and the Committee on the Budget have said we need a biennial budget, but they cannot even write a budget that will last through July. If we cannot write a budget that will last for 2 months, how can we expect to do one for 2 years? Mr. Speaker, we do not need these contingency funds and reserve funds and other extraordinary procedures to rewrite the budget as we go along. Republicans should step up to the plate. They should admit that a $2 trillion tax cut to benefit the rich is more important than anything else. They should admit that they are willing to endanger Medicare, cut heating programs, slash education, and decimate a new prescription drug benefit. But this budget lets them pretend for a while that all is well. Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve better. I urge my colleagues to send this budget back and demand a real budget, an honest budget instead. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I would again like to recognize and congratulate the remarkable Mansfield Lady Tigers basketball team, for repeating for the 3rd consecutive year Texas Division 5-A girls basketball champions. I have just returned from my District in North Texas and I can report that Lady Tiger fever is running high, and talk of a 4-peat is already in the air. All of Mansfield and its surrounding communities have been energized by the Lady Tigers exciting drive to a third straight state title. Last week, the Lady Tigers were also honored with a #1 national ranking. The Lady Tigers provided us with thrills all season, but their run through the playoffs was especially exciting. The fact that is amazing is 4,000 residents took off work to watch the team win another state championship in Austin shows the strong commitment of the Mansfield community to their Tigers. Once again congratulations to Coach Morrow and all of the Mansfield Lady Tiger players and coaches on their tremendous achievement. Savor this victory, you deserve it after a tremendous season. We can't wait to watch you next year.

Mr. FROST

Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize and congratulate the remarkable Fort Worth Area Habitat for Humanity for its efforts in transforming a neglected neighborhood into an area people are proud to call home. The Fort Worth Area Habitat for Humanity should be honored for building 27 modest wood-framed homes in the 45-block area last year and a total of 100 homes over the last nine years. This has provided the opportunity for renters to become first-time homebuyers who may not have the opportunity to do so otherwise. This group will also be recognized as a standout affiliate at the National Habitual Conference this April in Florida. I would also like to acknowledge Rev. Howard Caver of the World Missionary Baptist Church. His 70-member congregation raised funding for the group and put forth manpower in building the first half-dozen houses. The partnership between the World Missionary Baptist Church and the Fort Worth Area Habitat for Humanity has been very successful and has provided the community a great service. The Fort Worth Area Habitat for Humanity efforts and accomplishments does not stop at 100 houses. They plan to build 30 more houses this year. This is not an easy task, with finding available land and selecting families to live in the houses are among the group's toughest obstacles. However, the group expects this to be their best year yet and I have no doubt it will be. Once again, I am very proud to see the honorable work being accomplished in my district. The Fort Worth Area Habitat for Humanity has made so much progress in such a short amount of time and is continuing to contribute countless charitable hours. Thank you for everything you've done for the district, your work is appreciated.