Sam Johnson

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, to extend debate as Mr. Archer's designee, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out for starters that Ann Richards is the ex-Governor of Texas. I believe Mr. George Bush is the Governor down there now by acclamation. I might add that the Deal bill, which my colleagues have been talking about at length all day, is really the Clinton deal, phony deal, bill. Let me just say that it does not talk to any of the issues that we have been discussing. Our bill is totally more substantive than that. It talks to fugitives that are in food stamps. It talks to the food stamps. It talks to the kids. Mr. Chairman, with the amendments we have we have a far stronger bill than the Deal bill, the Clinton deal, phony deal, bill ever thought of being. As a matter of fact, the Clinton deal is an unfunded mandate on the States. Medicaid transitional assistance is increased from 1 year to 2 years. States must provide additional Medicaid benefits which, according to CBO, the Deal bill, the Clinton deal, phony deal, bill will cost the States an additional $1.5 billion between now and the year 2000. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Utah [Mrs. Waldholtz].

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. I will maintain control of the time, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Maryland [Mrs. Morella].

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, as the designated representative for Mr. Archer, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day within the Republican Party. A number of my colleagues bought into the divisive class warfare rantings of the Democrats. These Republicans have circulated a letter that endangers a major component in the Contract With America: the $500 per child tax credit. It is unbelievable to me that they would deny tax relief to families making more than $95,000 per year. Are we putting a price tag on families? Tax relief was in the Contract With America. If it fails, we will have fallen prey to the Democrats' big lie. They want to paint tax relief as rich versus poor. This bill is not about helping any one group over another, it is about returning to Americans what is rightfully theirs: their hardearned money. There is not a single American that deserves the huge tax burden that the Democrats have been heaping on them for the last 40 years. The question is not about rich versus poor, it is about stopping wasteful Government spending and the right of Americans to keep what they earn.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, that is exactly what is wrong here, the Federal Government in control. They want to control our lives and every aspect of it. As my colleagues know, George Washington over there did not want welfare, he did not want taxes. This week another historic debate is going to begin; another 40-year- old broken welfare program will end. Today the Republicans are going to bring forward a welfare bill that promotes freedom, rewards determination, and establishes self-esteem. Today mean-spirited Democrats, uncaring Democrats, will try to stop reform, cruel Democrats now defending a system that promoted dependency, rewarded complacency, and established self-defeat. They are the ones defending big government. Mr. Speaker, that is why we believe in our Constitution. We believe that States, not the Federal Government, should be given the flexibility to design a program that will fix the problems that are unique to their communities. Mr. Speaker, let us not just talk about ending welfare as we know it. Let us do it. Vote ``yes'' for America. Vote ``yes'' for welfare reform.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 4 because I think after 30 years and $5 trillion, the taxpayers and welfare recipients deserve better. We need fundamental changes. We need a system that does not trap welfare recipients in an endless cycle of dependency. I cannot believe that Members can come to this floor and say this bill is cruel or mean-spirited. It is those who protect the current system that are cruel. They believe that bureaucrats administering a one-size program that fits all know how to run a system better than State and local communities. The bill is tough, but it is fair, and we ask those on welfare to work in return for benefits. We insist fathers live up to their responsibilities, and we quit giving cash to those who continue to have children while on welfare. We ask families and people to be more responsible, be responsible Americans. That is not cruel, that is true compassion. I also want to set the record straight on funding. Under this bill we increase funding, we increase funding, I want to repeat, we increase funding. Look at this chart. CBO baseline spending goes up over the next 5 years. We are increasing spending, according to CBO estimates, $1.2 trillion over the next 5 years, helping people escape the welfare trap. You know the difference in those two lines? Earlier estimates said we were going to raise spending 53 percent. You know what? We are doing what the American people wanted us to do, and that is reduce spending. We are cutting the increase to 42 percent. Goodness gracious. If you cannot stand a 42-percent increase in spending, if your own budget could stand that, I defy you to say there is something wrong with that. We are not taking money away from anybody. We are increasing as the need requires. This bill targets money to the most needy, gives the States the ability to create their own solution. This bill is fair. It is real reform. Talk is cheap. The Democrats have proven that. It is time to act. It is time to repeal and reform the welfare program. Vote against big government, and let us help Americans help themselves to have a better future.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, Democrats are scared of losing 40 years of tight-fisted control over the States. This scares them so much they have embarked on a big lie campaign to defeat a bill that gives the States and individuals the power to create solutions. They still believe Washington knows best. This example is best illustrated by the Republican proposal to improve the school lunch program. This bill does not cut lunches. It does not cut funding. We increase funding for the program by 4.5 percent per year. Let me repeat, 4.5 percent every year. We are not taking away food from anyone. Republicans believe in change, and this bill represents it. The Democrats continue to believe in the status quo. This was shown by their event last Sunday. And would you believe they used children as props to help their special interest friends raise money, big labor unions, welfare state bureaucrats and extremist organizations? Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues to vote for the real change. Vote against big government. Vote for this bill.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman that just spoke is quite right, and I think looking at old George Washington over there, he would have agreed that defending the country is primary in our interest. I think old George would also have agreed that we don't need welfare, and we don't need high taxes. In his day, there wasn't any income tax. I stand here to tell you that a promise we made to the seniors that we would give them tax relief by eliminating the 85-percent tax on Social Security is in jeopardy. A promise we made to married couples that they would get relief from the marriage penalty is in jeopardy. A promise we made to give the people the option of using their IRA's to buy their first home, send their kids to college or help pay their medical bills is in jeopardy. And a promise to families to provide them with a $500 per child tax credit is in jeopardy. Why? Because some of your Congressmen on both sides of the aisle want to lower the income level from $200,000 down to $95,000. It disappoints me that we have to have an income gap, but it irritates me that some Members want to lower it. Every single American deserves tax relief and it is preposterous that even the Members who signed the Contract With America are now reneging on the promise they made to the American people. Believe me, I have heard the arguments. ``Tax cuts are for the rich. They will increase the Federal deficit.'' Those are false statements. They really are. Those arguments are shortsighted and they have no concern for our current tax burden that is placed on every American taxpayer. Did you know that in 1950, the typical American family with two children sent $1 out of every $50 it earned to Washington, DC? Last year, just 25 years later, that same family sent $1 out of every 4$ it earned to Washington, DC. A family with five children making $200,000 a year is not rich. Besides, whose money is it, anyway? We are not taking it back from the Federal Government. We are giving it back to the people who earned it, you the voters, the constituency, the people of America. The Government did not work to earn the money but I will bet you for sure the Government sure knows how to waste it. Mr. Speaker, I would like to pose these questions to the American people. Are you taxed too heavily? Do you deserve tax relief? Do you believe the Government spends too much? Finally, do you believe that Republicans should keep our promises? I urge each of you to call your representatives and let me know you support this bill. Pick up the phone right now and make your Congressman accountable. Tax relief combined with spending reductions will revive America's strength.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. I think the Committee on Ways and Means designed block grants for child protection and family assistance, so the two committees together have formed block grants that protect children, protect the school system, protect the pregnant women, infants, and childrens programs, and make America safer and better. And, in addition, ask only in return that they please work for whatever benefits that they receive. Do you think that is too much to ask for Americans to do?

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I think that if the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hostettler] wants to conduct a colloquy, I will be happy to talk with the gentleman about it. But it seems to me that the Committee on Agriculture varied the Contract With America and from the change that the people in America have been asking for, and that is a smaller Federal Government and local control. And that is what we were sent here to accomplish. We are not eliminating food stamps. We are not eliminating food assistance. We are in favor of kids growing up good and strong. And good, healthy fat ones is what we want, right?

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. And I like your chart by the way. I did not get a chance to tell you that. But I think all the people that vote for the remainder of the welfare bill under block grants, but refuse to make this needed change should rethink their vote, because we think we need to be consistent; consistent with the Contract With America, consistent with the wishes of the American people, and consistent with the ideas and principles of the conservative party, the Republican party. Given America back to Americans. Thank you for letting me talk with you.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. So, I think that it is important that people understand in the world that the Education Committee designed three block grants for child care, for family nutrition, and for school-based nutrition. And all of those programs provide more money for all of the programs. And not only do they provide more money, but they allow the States to be their own judge of how to spend that money and move a little bit of it around to wherever the priority projects are in each State, based on each State's needs, each kid's needs, each school's needs. Would you agree with that?

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. And we are going to give them that opportunity, along with greater and better benefits based on their own local input and needs. And I think there seems to be resistance in this town to doing things that would protect our children at home. Most people here would say that the resistance here wants to keep the massive Federal bureaucracy in operation, the massive Federal control over every individual's life, including the kids. And we are teaching the kids, I think, would you not agree, that we are teaching the kids that the Federal Government knows best? And I defy anybody to say, whether you or I, or knows what is best for the children in their own hometown, in an individual school district, in an individual home. Would you agree?

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Would you not think that most Americans want to work anyway?

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I remember 2 years ago when we were arguing over the superconducting super collider and you guys gave the same argument against Texas. We had the same research from the departments that this was the greatest project in the world, and it definitely had and would produce results. And you know what, we stopped it, and it has 3 billion Federal dollars in it and a billion Texas dollars in it to close it down. This is a little project. I do not see any reason that we should keep trying to find out how to fix coal. And I also remember in Texas a few years back when the Department of Energy made us switch from gas, natural gas, clean-burning natural gas to coal, and we now see coal going from Montana to Texas in 100 train carloads every day. You know what, it is not clean. We need to stop this pork.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. I will not even address the lies coming from the other side. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about tort reforms we are considering this week. They are important to every citizen in this country, so important that each of the 50 States is currently considering some type of overhaul of their own legal system. In my home State of Texas, Governor Bush has declared a state of emergency to address these reforms and with good cause. Texas ranked fourth in the Nation in million-dollar verdicts between 1990 and 1993. Lawsuit abuse is out of control, so out of control it is crippling businesses, destroying jobs, and costing every household in Texas $2,700 per year. Last year alone in Texas prisons there were 1,000 suits filed by prisoners for crazy reasons. One for being licked. Yeah, I said licked by a horse while on a work detail. The time has come for my colleagues to take a giant step for America and answer the plea seen on a billboard in a town in south Texas that reads, ``Stop Lawsuit Abuse Now.''

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I want to clear the air. This bill is not about race or about a Republican plan to dismantle affirmative action. This is about providing a permanent 25-percent deduction for health insurance to the 3.2 million hard-working self- employed Americans. In order to provide funding for this deduction the Ways and Means Committee repealed section 1071 which is simply an FCC tax give away. Section 1071 was created in 1943 by the FCC to give tax certificates to radio station owners that were forced to sell one station. Under FCC regulations, at that time, an owner could not have two stations in one market. Since 1943, the FCC has ballooned section 1071 into a voluntary, loosely defined, unsupervised, open-ended tax giveaway entitlement program. They have kept sparse records of the tax loss to the taxpayers, and how if at all, the program has enriched minority ownership. It is a program that has outlived its usefulness. Not to mention the fact that an independent agency should never be in the position of implementing tax policy, this has and will invite disaster. Tax policy is only made by Congress and should be carried out by the IRS. Mr. Chairman, it is time to focus on the real issue at hand, giving the self-employed a richly deserved deduction to help cover their health costs for themselves and their families. Americans want, need and deserve relief. We say support the self-employed, support the passage of this bill.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. I thank the Chairman. I appreciate him yielding time to me to discuss this, and I will take the chairman's suggestion and not offer the amendment today but will, instead, bring it up at the appropriate time, which will be during the State Department authorization process.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] and others have talked about the costs of the United Nations, but what has not been talked about is we are talking about percentages, 25 percent of an already bloated budget. They are not cutting back on their costs, they are not addressing budget reductions. I had planned to offer an amendment which would have placed a monetary cap of $250 million for the U.S. contribution to the United Nations. Here at home we are making painful budget cuts, we are eliminating wasteful spending and abolishing unnecessary bureaucracies. The taxpayers have insisted that we change the way we do business here in Washington, and I think that we can accept no less from the United Nations. I believe we have the right and indeed the obligation to require the United Nations to do this, because the American taxpayer provides it with a quarter of its $1 billion plus budget. When we add in peacekeeping, as the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] has already said, $2.8 billion, we are already at $3 billion plus. That is too much money, and as the largest donor we are the only country capable of effecting positive change at the United Nations.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am amazed at the comments by our Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State concerning the fact that they are going to recommend vetoing the National Security Revitalization Act. This bill addresses a crisis of paramount importance to our Nation, the defense of America. Not one of our four military services has been left unscathed by the radical defense cuts imposed by the Clinton administration. The numbers are staggering, amounting to almost 65 percent in real spending dollars already. These massive cuts come at a time when the military is being asked to do more with less, in a world that is still very dangerous and unpredictable. I served in the U.S. Air Force for 29 years, and I remember all too well the hollow forces of the seventies. I remember squadrons being grounded due to lack of spare parts, and I remember air crews dying because they lacked the proper amount of training. Now I am hearing those same stories again and again. We as a Congress have no right demanding that our service men and women put their lives on the line at the same time we are slashing the funds they need to perform their mission successfully. We must do everything we can to ensure the safety and security of this Nation and the protection of those who risk their lives for us.

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I hate to see comments like we just heard. Is Washington omnipotent? I doubt it. I would like to quote what the administration thinks of our Governors' and mayors' ability to fight crime in their own States and cities. The Justice Department said, ``The proposed block grant will be dissipated by applying the funds to unwise and frivolous expenditures, with the result that their impact was scattershot, short-term, and diluted.'' They continue by saying, ``Local officials would be free to engage in 100 percent federally funded `spending spree,' with no guidance as to how these funds should be spent.'' Do our local officials need guidance from Washington, DC? I do not think so. A Member of this body said that grants would be just like ``throwing dollars down a rat hole.'' Is he calling our State and local governments rat holes? I do not think they are. Is this not the pot calling the kettle black? A Federal Government that has accumulated a $5 trillion debt is saying that our State and local government officials will go on a spending spree. Well, I do not think Americans want, need, or deserve control from Washington, DC. Unlike some of our Washington crowd, we must have faith in our Governors, our mayors, our police chiefs and every citizen of this country; that they, not some Washington bureaucrat, know best how to fight crime in America.