William Roth

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the next votes in the series be limited to 10 minutes each.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of H.R. 3544, which is at the desk.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 13, 2000, at 2:00 p.m. for a hearing on the annual report of the Postmaster General.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until the hour of 9 a.m. on Friday, July 14. I further ask consent that on Friday, immediately following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 8, the Death Tax Elimination Act, under the previous order.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read the third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 578, H.R. 3591.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, this amendment includes the Democratic substitute that fails to sunset the death tax. Moreover, the amendment includes two additional provisions which cause the Finance Committee to exceed its 301 spending allocation. I urge a ``no'' vote on waiving the point of order.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I yield myself such time as I may use. Too often in our debates on the Senate floor, we lose touch with what really is at issue. What we do here, the decisions we make, affect real people. For that reason I want to take a moment and read a letter I recently received. Dear Senator Roth: I am a 14 year old boy, living in New York, and though my knowledge of the law is very minuscule, I know one thing, the Estate Tax is wrong. I have considered myself a Democrat for all of my life, volunteering for Bill Bradley for President and my local Congresswoman from New York's 14th District, Carolyn Maloney, but on this issue I must side with the opposition. I shall explain to you why I am so opposed. My Grandfather on my mother's side bought his house in 1945 in Winnetka, Illinois for $10,000. He was a doctor. Back then, Winnetka was a ``dry'' town, alcohol was prohibited. Today, Winnetka is one of the rich suburbs of Chicago and my Grandmother, 86 years old, lives alone in the same home without my Grandfather who passed away in 1982. The house today, not a thing changed since 1945, is worth around $2 to 3 million. It pains me to say this, but my Grandmother could pass any day and her house, her belongings, everything my Grandfather worked for 50 years as Doctor, helping others, could be gone. She is not rich, in fact, she has nothing except for her house and her furniture. I hope that you understand my staunch opposition to the Estate Tax and I hope that you will vote to repeal the Estate Tax. Thank you for reading this, could you please respond to my inquiry: Thank you. Alexander Leventhal. I hope young Mr. Leventhal, and his grandmother, do not mind that I read his letter before the Senate. I hope that they will accept a verbal response to his letter, and I hope that this Senate will vote to give them the response they and millions others deserve: repeal of the death tax. This family, separated by hundreds of miles and generations, should not have to worry about the fate of their grandfather's house. No family, no farmer, and no small business person should have to worry about this sort of thing. It is bad enough that they have to lose sleep over the worry, but the loss, as young Mr. Leventhal so accurately points out, can be so much greater. It is a house, it is a farm, it is a business, it is savings, that a family has worked for throughout a lifetime. One lifetime comes to an end, and suddenly the entire family's memories of the past and dreams for the future can come to an end as well. As we all know, no one individual creates a farm or a business by themselves. The whole family sacrifices to it. They sacrifice by having a parent, or both parents, away when they could have been home. They contribute by seeing money that could have been taken out of the farm or business and spent, instead reinvested into growing the farm or business for the family, and, of course, the family contributes their work. Family members do not punch a time card when they work on their family's farm or in their family's business. Their work is part of being a member of the family. They do not see all they worked for just in earnings--they see much of it in a growing family enterprise. Yet when one member of that family dies, they see a tax bill for income they never received. For income they never wanted--at least not as much as they wanted to grow their family's farm or business. But because the tax bill is so big and their earnings went back into the family's enterprise, they have to sell the family's farm or small business. Not because they need the money, or even because they want the money, but because the Federal Government in Washington does, and the Federal Government demands they sell it in order to pay those who never worked a day on their farm or a minute in their business or, as in the case of Alexander Leventhal, never lived a day in his grandfather's house in Winnetka. Where is the justice in this? I am sure Mr. Leventhal would like to hear it. I have heard some say that taxing at death is the only way some income will ever be taxed. Of course, this is not true. It will be taxed when it is realized--when a farm, a business, a house is sold-- when it actually exists for a family. These are not people who dodge taxes, as the apologists for a confiscatory death tax try to make them. It is nothing less than a desperate attempt to defend the indefensible. These are people who never saw the income because it never existed for them. It was in their farms and businesses. They should not be taxed on some make-believe basis at a time to be decided by the Government. When they sell their farms and businesses, they will pay tax on it. Until the family decides to, when it is right for the family, what place is it for the Government to come in and tell them that they have to sell what often is the very purpose for which that family worked and wants to continue to work? I see no justice in that. I cannot believe anyone on this Senate floor could see any justice in that. But most important, no one outside this Chamber--certainly not Alexander Leventhal, his grandmother or any one of millions upon millions of hardworking Americans--see any justice in that. It is time to repeal the death tax. It has always been unfair. Today, in a time of growing surpluses, it is no longer even necessary. I hope my colleagues will take to heart not my admonition, but that of my letter writer: ``I hope that you understand my staunch opposition to the Estate Tax and I hope that you will vote to repeal the Estate Tax.'' Alexander, I will and I hope my colleagues will as well. I believe time has run out. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. ROTH. I yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from New Mexico.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. ROTH. I yield the remainder of my time.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I will be very brief in the interest of saving time. My amendment will eliminate the telephone tax. I think this has broad bipartisan support. I urge everyone to comport with the amendment.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I will be very brief in my comment on this amendment. This amendment has the same fundamental defect that the other Democratic amendments have. It is built on the Democratic alternative to the House death tax repeal bill. For that reason, I must oppose the amendment, as the Democratic alternative fails to achieve the termination of the death tax. Second, I want to raise a procedural point. While I agree and support the concept of encouraging savings, I regret that this amendment would cause the Finance Committee to violate its outlay allocation under the budget resolution. As a result, I raise a section 302(f) point of order against this amendment.

Mr. ROTH. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. For the information of all Senators, at 9 a.m. the Senate will begin the final votes on the death tax elimination bill. Under the order, there will be up to 10 votes on the remaining amendments and final passage. Following disposition on the death tax legislation, the Senate will begin debate of the reconciliation bill, which includes the marriage tax penalty language. Under a consent agreement reached tonight, there is a finite list of amendments which will be debated throughout the day, tomorrow, and voted on beginning at 6:15 p.m. on Monday, July 17. As a reminder, all votes after the first vote tomorrow morning will be limited to 10 minutes in length.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask unanimous consent the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaties transmitted to the Senate on July 13, 2000, by the President of the United States: Treaty with Cyprus on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Treaty Document No. 106-35); and Treaty with South Africa on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (Treaty Document No. 106-36). I further ask that the treaties be considered as having been read the first time, they be referred with accompanying papers to the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the President's message be printed in the Record.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 335 submitted earlier by Senator Helms for himself and others.

Mr. ROTH

Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I understand that S. 2869 is at the desk. I ask for its first reading.

Mr. ROTH. I now ask for its second reading and object to my own request.