Gene Taylor

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, there is an excellent new book on the market. It is called Dereliction of Duty, and it talks about what went on in the Lyndon Johnson administration, starting about January of 1964 when he was telling the people of America that he was not going to get our Nation involved in any war in Vietnam, and yet behind the scenes was taking every step to do so. That is what happens when you mislead the American people. That is what happens when you tell the American people you are doing one thing and yet another is going on. That is what these six bills are about. I voted for them. They sound good; they feel good; they do absolutely nothing. This bill, I would say to the gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Fowler], and you are my friend, does absolutely nothing. We have had two opportunities now on this floor to do something. My friend, and I still call him my friend, although we quarrel on occasion, Mr. Solomon, points out that the People's Army got $2 billion in profits from goods they sold in America last year. The people of China, the nation of China, got $40 billion because of their incredible trade surplus with our Nation. On two occasions, I have tried to address that. On two occasions, you people chose not to. It is a dereliction of duty of this Congress to mislead the American people that we are somehow getting tough with the Chinese Communists when we are not. There is a dereliction of duty of this Congress to pass six bills, put out press releases, go up there, talk to the television, go out on the quad and talk to the reporters, say we are finally getting tough with the Communists, when we are not. The only way we are ever going to get the Chinese Communists' attention, to get them to quit forcing abortions, to get them to quit selling missiles to our enemies, to get them to quit putting American businesses out of business with slave-labor-made goods, is when we hit them in the pocketbook, and we will never hit them in the pocketbook as long as we give them most-favored-nation status, when they get 2 percent tariffs on their products coming into America and yet we allow them to charge us anything they want when we sell our products there. And those tariffs can be from 30 to 40 percent, and those tariffs are the main reason why our Nation is at a $40 billion annual trade disadvantage with the Chinese. I say to the gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Fowler], I am going to vote for her bill. It sounds nice. But if you are really serious, if the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] is really serious about this, then let us address the trade inequity. Let us forget about the silly rules of the House. Let us forget about jurisdictions. For once, let us do what is right for America.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I yield to the gentleman from Hawaii.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. In its present form, I am, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the ranking Democratic member on this committee for his very generous gesture and for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, this is the sixth bill before this body in the past 2 days that deals with the People's Republic of Communist China. The first would have the American people believe that it enforces a ban against products that were made with slave labor from being brought into this country. What it does in reality, if you read the summary, is it provides another $2 million for us to find out which products were made with slave labor, but they still come in. They compete with glove factories and garment plants in south Mississippi, and probably compete with products made in every single congressional district in this country, but they still come in. The second one would be a prohibition of funds to Chinese religious officials. What it really does is deny people who are appointed by the Communist Chinese regime to be figurehead religious people, and they are really not. It denies their visas. That is all it does. The third is called the Forced Abortion Condemnation Act. I have a 100 percent voting record with the National Right-to-Life. All it does is condemn what they do and deny visas again to a handful of people from Communist China who want to come in. It does not change their way of thinking. The fourth is called the Political Freedom in China Act, and it spends $2.2 million to monitor human rights. They literally sit there and watch as the Chinese murder their own people, force abortions on their own people, torture their own people. It does not change anything. It pays $2 million, $2.2 million for Americans to go over there and watch. The fifth is called Radio Free Asia Act, and if the money was appropriated, it would spend $50 million to broadcast signals that are in all probability jammed by the People's Republic of China, telling them that they have a bad government. Great idea, but the signal is jammed. It does not accomplish anything. Again, it makes us feel good, like we are trying to do something, but we are really not. And this bill, the Communist China Subsidy Reduction Act. I do not think the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] gave a fair representation of what he is trying to accomplish, and I really do not oppose it. How can one oppose a bill that does nothing? And it does nothing. All it does is have the United States oppose the extension of concessional loans by international financial institutions to any entity in the People's Republic of China. To just oppose it does not mean it does not happen. It still happens. It is one of those feel- good, make the American people happy, bamboozle the American people, make them think we are getting tough with the Communist Chinese, but it does not. We had a chance last night to get tough with the Communist Chinese. I guess the first question is, for some people in our country, why would we want to? Why take on the people in Peking? Why tell them that they need to change their behavior? Well, I agree. The first 6 bills pretty well spelled it out. They are forcing abortions. They have phoney religions. They persecute people for simply practicing their religion. There is no political freedom. There is no free air time on the radio and television to tell the truth about what is going on. So all of those things need to change. But this does not change it. We had a chance last night to change that. But what else are the Chinese doing? While this session of Congress, the 105th session of Congress has been meeting, the Chinese Communists have acquired ports on both ends of the Panama Canal. These ports were built by the American people. They used to be ours. Because of a very bad treaty in 1977, they were reverted to the Republic of Panama. The Republic of Panama, in the most shadiest of deals, turned down two American firms that bid high for the use of those ports and gave them instead to a company called Hutchinson out of Hong Kong, and as of July 1, Hutchinson is now in the People's Republic of China. So there is one port directly across from our Howard Air Force Base in Panama on the Pacific side, another on the Atlantic side, both of which are fully capable of blocking all entry and exit from the Panama Canal. They now control it. That frightens me as a member of the Committee on National Security. What else have they done? Most recently, the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company, a firm that is 100 percent owned by the People's Republic of China, a Communist totalitarian state, leased the San Diego Naval Shipyard that we accessed. I am very proud of the House Committee on National Security, because we passed legislation to ban that lease. I helped my good friend, the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] and others, to make that amendment pass. It went to the Senate. They did nothing. The effect is, we do nothing. Now the Chinese Communist shipping company controls what used to be an American naval base in San Diego. Let us talk about the missiles. We have heard about the missiles repeatedly. Something the American people, by omission or commission were never told about the Gulf War is that during the Gulf War a Chinese Silkworm missile came within 100 yards of one of our battleships, 100 yards. It was shot down by an American fighter plane. What if it had hit? Do my colleagues remember when the Exocet missile hit the Stark? Do my colleagues remember when the Argentine missiles hit the British destroyer? People die, and they die very quickly when a missile hits a ship. That missile was either given or sold to the Iraqis by the Chinese Communists. As we speak, the Chinese Communists are selling missiles to Iran. They are selling missiles to Iraq. They are either selling or giving missiles to North Korea. These are not onetime indiscretions on the part of the Chinese Communists. These are things that are going on every day and have gone on every day. I look in the back of the room and I see the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest], who served as a Marine in the Vietnam war, and any Marine in that war knows that he had to worry about every step that he took, because the next step may be to land on a Chinese Communist landmine that were given to the North Vietnamese during that war. This is not something that is just happening today. It is a period, it is a systematic series of aggressive acts against the United States of America that spans three decades. And what do we do about it? Thus far we have passed five bills that do nothing, and we are debating a sixth bill that does nothing. I want to change that. I want to offer a motion to recommit, because the rule that passed yesterday denies every Member of this body, not just Democrats, every Member of this body their constitutional right to amend a bill on the House floor. We all ran for office. We were all elected by 1/435th of the people of this country, and yet a couple of people in a room up there called the Committee on Rules decided that the rest of us do not deserve the right to approve these bills. But what they did do was allow for a motion to recommit where one could try to amend this bill. Mr. Speaker, I am going to offer a motion to recommit. I am going to offer a motion to recommit to try to do what is right, not for the big bosses who go to the teas and the coffees at the White House, or who give phoney loans to the other political party so that they can kind of process it through and use it during their elections, because they really have tainted both political parties, I mean let us be honest with each other. That is what they have done and they have not done it for our benefit, they did it for theirs. Communist China, after doing all of the things that I have talked about, enjoys a $40 billion trade surplus with our Nation. That means at the end of every year, they will have $40 billion more of our money than we will of theirs. How do they have such a big trade surplus? Well, it is very simple. This Congress, after all the ranting and raving and chest-pounding over the evils of the Clinton coffees, turned right around and gave most favored nation status to China. It means that their goods can come into our country with a 2 percent tariff, but if one is an American and one is trying to sell their product in that totalitarian Communist regime, they, No. 1, will decide whether or not they will even let you, and if they let you, they are going to charge your product a 30 to 40 percent tariff just to have the opportunity to be sold there. We charge them 2 percent, they charge us 30 to 40 percent. It is wrong. It is not fair. We wonder why they give those monies in campaign contributions? That is my hunch why they do it. They have a heck of a deal, we got a horrible deal. I would like to change that. Last night I offered a motion to recommit to change that, to say that on a quarterly basis, the United States Secretary of the Treasury would review what they charge us to have access to their products and their market, and just say, for the next quarter, that is what we are going to charge them. We do not set a tariff. We tell the Chinese we will be as fair with you as you have been with us. So maybe the people in Waynesboro, MS who are losing their jobs at the glove factory to gloves that are made with political prison labor in China will have a fair shot at the American market and a fair shot at the Chinese market. Guess what? Almost every Democrat voted for that, but I am sorry to say that only six of my Republican friends chose to stand up to the Speaker of the House, who is the number one fund-raiser for that political party, who got Chinese money, and say, you know what? That is wrong. Let us fix it, let us do something about it. I want to take this opportunity to compliment the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Bartlett], the gentleman from California [Mr. Bilbray], the gentleman from California [Mr. Hunter] the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Neumann] the gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher] and the gentleman from Michigan, [Mr. Smith]. What they showed last night was real American courage, because they put what was best for this country ahead of what is best for their political party. They put their constituents ahead of what was best for the Speaker of the House. That is why we run for office. That is why we stand in the rain, that is why we stand at football stadiums, that is why we stand in front of Wal-Marts, that is why we call up our friends and ask for money, that is why some of us mortgage our houses so we can raise enough money to go on television to run for political office, because we do it to try to make things right. They did that, and every one of them was threatened today, because they did what was right for America, and not what was right for their political party. Shame on you; shame on the people who threatened them. We are going to have a chance, once again. As I said, I have no objection to the bill of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon]. It does not do anything, but I am going to try to make it better. I am going to try to call for some basic fairness between what the Chinese charge us to have access to their markets and what we charge them. That is all we want. Fairness. I hope my colleagues will give us that chance. I hope my colleagues will put partisan politics aside, whether you are Democrat or Republican. I hope, for once, my colleagues will do for the people what they promised they would do for them, and that is do what is best for our country, regardless of whether it is good for this political party or that political party. For once, let us look out for the American working person.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] saying that he wishes I brought it before the Committee on Rules. Earlier this year, my colleague, I brought an amendment to have all DOD employees drug tested before the Committee on Rules. The committee never even voted on it. Then I brought Medicare subvention before the Committee on Rules, something that my colleague is a cosponsor of. He voted against it in the Committee on Rules, and he voted against bringing it to the floor. So if I am a little hesitant to bring this important measure to the Committee on Rules, it is for good reason. It is because the Committee on Rules has not been fair and people in the Committee on Rules have voted in the Committee on Rules against bills that they have cosponsored bringing them to the floor.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I would like to be recognized for a motion to recommit.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, as much as any Member of this body lives and breathes, this amendment is very much germane. Mr. Solomon's bill does one thing. It directs the Secretary of the Treasury to kind of something, do something about the Chinese Communists. My amendment directs the Secretary of the Treasury to do something about the gross injustice between what the Communist Chinese charge American products when our products go to their country and the fact that they only pay 2 percent when they come to ours. Why are we doing this? Why were there 5 votes in the past 2 days? It is because they force abortions, it is because they are thugs, they do not have religious freedom, they do not have political freedom. They are selling missiles and weapons to our enemies. They are buying ports on both ends of the Panama Canal.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, as I said, every bill that we have voted on is trying to affect Chinese policy. This bill is asking the Secretary of the Treasury to take steps to affect Chinese policy. My amendment asks the Secretary of the Treasury to take substantial, realistic steps to affect Chinese policy. We are only going to get one last chance this session to do something substantive. As I have pointed out, the Committee on Rules has voted against bills that they are cosponsors of.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. The Speaker knows I am speaking to the point of order. The gentleman may not, but you do, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am asking the Members of this House to do what each of us begged for the opportunity to do every other year, and, that is, stand up for the rights of the American citizens, to strike a blow against the thugs when we get the chance. Tonight we have a chance. Tonight we can decide that we will have some lame excuse and go back and tell the constituents of each of our individual districts, that, ``Doggone it, we couldn't do anything about those Chinese thugs because the Rules Committee said we weren't germane.'' Or we can say that there are some things more important than the rules of the House in the integrity of this Nation, simple things like right and wrong, simple fairness for the American working people. That is more important than the rules of the House that can be changed at any moment. That is what I am asking Members of this body to vote on, and that is why I am asking Members to vote against tabling this motion and then turn around to vote for this motion to recommit so that all of these things that have done nothing will at least be followed up by a measure that does something for the people of America and gets the attention of the thugs in Peking.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, at this time I ask a parliamentary inquiry as to which is the proper motion to question the ruling of the Chair.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that in previous instances in this esteemed body, Speakers, when a question of the ruling of the Chair would be brought before it, would allow the Members to decide whether or not they wanted to vote on something. I would very much appreciate it if this Speaker would allow the Members to decide whether or not we will vote on this. If this Speaker chooses not to do so, then I will ask the Members to vote against the ruling of the Chair so that this motion to recommit can be brought before this body and voted on by the 435 Members who were each elected by the citizens of this country.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I do, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. 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. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. At this time I am, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I made an analogy between the measures that are going on tonight dealing with the People's Republic of China and a chapter of a book entitled 365 Days, written by Dr. Glasser, who was a surgeon in a burn ward dealing with Vietnam veterans. In one of those chapters he refers to the medics of Vietnam who, on their own, discovered that for those soldiers who were so horribly wounded that they were not going to live, and there was not anything that the medics could do for them, they started giving them SweeTarts. They told them it was for the pain. The amazing thing was that it seemed to lessen their pain. It did not save their lives, it did not make them any better, but it seemed to lessen their pain. That is kind of what we are doing tonight. The world's greatest Nation is doing business with the world's greatest totalitarian regime. That totalitarian regime has a $40 billion trade surplus with our Nation. Our Nation, because we gave them most-favored-nation status, allows their goods, many of which are made with the slave labor described by the previous speakers, to come into our Nation either totally tariff-free or at a 2 percent tariff. One of the places they compete with is a glove factory in south Mississippi. That is not fair. In turn, when we try to sell products in their Nation, they either do not allow them in, or they charge anywhere from a 20 to 40 percent tariff on American goods. That is not fair. All the things we are doing tonight are very much like those SweeTarts. They do not save the persons we are trying to save and in reality do not even make them feel better. It just makes them think that they feel better. Mr. Speaker, I intend to support the bill of the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] because at least it does make us feel a little bit better, and I intend to offer at the proper time a motion to recommit to include portions of a bill that I have introduced, H.R. 2814, which would on a quarterly basis require our Secretary of the Treasury to review what the People's Republic of China is charging Americans who seek to do business in China as far as tariffs, and on a quarterly basis change that amount so that we charge them what they charge us. If Members truly believe in free trade, like some members of both parties espouse, then there is only one way to get the Chinese attention, and that is to say we will do unto others as you do unto us, because the present situation of letting them have a $40 billion trade surplus with our Nation, unlimited access to our markets, unlimited access to our enemies, and let me remind the American people that the Silkworm missile that came within 100 yards of hitting one of our battleships in the Gulf War was made in China, the only way we are ever going to get their attention is to start hitting them in the pocketbook, where it will make a difference. Mr. Speaker, I am not given a whole lot of time to talk about this. I am sorry to say that many of my colleagues for one reason or another are not on the floor. They are probably being moved to say, well, that is not germane to the bill, but guess what. One of the ways you get on the Committee on Ways and Means is you sign some sort of a blood oath to be a free trader. It means you do not believe in tariffs. It means that other people can abuse us as much as they want to. This is the only opportunity the 435 Members of this House are going to have this year to address this horrible trade inequity and horrible unfairness. We all beat our brains out to get here. I do not think the people on the Committee on Ways and Means should have a monopoly on deciding trade issues. As long as we say to them that only those things that you think are right will come to this floor, then we will continue to be given limited opportunities to adjust the gross inequities in America's trade laws. Members will have that chance tonight. I hope for once we will stand up for the world's greatest Nation, for the voice of democracy and against this voice of totalitarianism.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I want to thank the chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Procurement of the Committee on National Security, someone who is more aware than most of the threat that the Chinese pose to our Nation, of the threatening remarks they have made about their missiles being able to land in our country, and all we are asking is for some sense of fairness in America's trade laws.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Crane] for reserving the point of order and not trying to cut off debate. Mr. Speaker, the efforts of the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox], though well-intentioned, are little more than giving a sweet talk to a dying man. It does not really change things. We spend a little bit more money to find out what we already know, that the People's Republic of China is using slave labor, making goods, and sending goods to the United States of America to be sold here and put Americans out of work. There is nothing new about that. There is nothing new about the fact that they have a $40 billion trade surplus with our country. There is nothing new about the fact that it is a totalitarian communist regime that is doing this, and our money feeds their military. There is nothing new about the fact that they charge us 20 to 40 percent on our products that we try to sell there, while we only charge them, because of the Most-Favored-Nation Status agreement, about 2 percent on their products that they sell here. What is new tonight is that we can have a chance to really address that, not just spend a couple more million dollars finding out what we already know, that they are making things with slave labor, but to tell the Chinese that we will expect some basic level of fairness from them in return for having access to our markets, and we will expect you, China, to treat its people better if they want to have access to our markets. The people from the Committee on Ways and Means are going to object to this. The people from the Committee on Ways and Means by and large are free traders. They think that however horrible the Chinese Government is, however horrible they are and how many weapons they sell to our opponents they ought to have total access to our market, because doggone it, that is what free trade is all about. I say to my colleagues, they are wrong, they are dead wrong. Not only are they wrong, but they block any effort by any average Member of this body to address that inequity. We cannot get a bill through that committee, and one never will. We have one chance this legislative session to address that. We have one chance this legislative session to say, we are going to treat the Chinese the way they treat us, and if they want to charge us 2 percent, as we charge them, we will do the same. But if they want to charge us 40 percent, if they want to continue to have a $40 billion a year trade surplus out of our money and use that money to sell weapons or give weapons to the enemy of America, then we are going to do something about it. The Democratic leadership and the Republican leadership will come to the floor in the next couple of minutes and say, let us do not do this, let us do not act hasty. There is nothing hasty about this. This has been going on for decades. What is different is that in the 2 years that each of us is given to serve this Nation in the elections that are held every other year, this is the one chance we are probably going to get to do something about it. They are going to say, do not vote against the ruling of the Chair because somehow the Chair is almighty, the Chair knows better. Well, the Chair is wrong. The Chair will not give us a chance to vote on this. This is the one chance we are going to get. We are going to get one chance to decide if we are going to have a basic sense of fairness between how the Chinese and the Americans trade with each other, whether we are going to continue to allow goods that are made with slave labor to compete against the goods that are made in North Carolina and Mississippi and New York and California. We are going to continue to say whether or not we are going to turn a blind eye to the most totalitarian regime in the world that sells weapons to our opponents. But I say to my colleagues, it is OK, because the Committee on Ways and Means does not want to hear the idea that maybe there ought to be a basic fairness between what they charge us in tariffs and what we charge them. This is our chance. We are going to have to work against your leadership, I am going to have to vote against mine, but we were not sent here to listen to the leadership, we were sent here to listen to the people of our congressional districts and the people of this Nation, and they want us to make things right. They want us to be fair with them. They want us to change things that are wrong. They want us to do what is right. I am almost reminded of the song, The Impossible Dream. This is your chance to fight for what is right, without question or pause, because as your leadership is concerned, you are clearly walking into hell for a heavenly cause. I am asking you to do what is right for America. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. Point of Order The SPEAKER pro tempore [Mr. Quinn]. Does the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Crane] insist on his point of order?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. 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. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I appeal the ruling of the Chair.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] has just made my point. I think we ought to have an open rule. I do not think a handful of people in the Republican leadership or a handful of people in the Democratic leadership or just those people who are fortunate enough to serve on the Committee on Ways and Means should make this decision. I think everyone in this House should make the decision where we seek some basic level of fairness between what we charge the Chinese, which is almost nothing, to have access to our markets, which indeed in many instances are made by slave labor, and they are charging us anywhere from 30 to 40 percent for our goods and they have a 40-percent trade surplus with our country, which means they are the winner. All I want is fairness and opportunity for Members of this body to decide whether or not we can have that level of fairness. For that reason, and especially since the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon], chairman of the distinguished Committee on Rules, would like the opportunity to vote for that bill, I would encourage every Member of this body to vote against the rule so that it would be open for debate so we have an opportunity to vote on just that.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hall] for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out that this whole debate reminds me of a chapter of a book called ``365 Days,'' where a doctor, Dr. Glasser, who treated patients during the Vietnam war, makes mention of the fact that our medics during the Vietnam conflict, when soldiers were so severely wounded that there was nothing that could be done for them, would often give them a sweettart and tell the dying soldier that it was for the pain; and somehow the soldiers, wanting to think they would get better, would actually feel better. That is about what these bills do. It is like giving a dying soldier a sweettart. It does not save him. But maybe it is a psychological thing for the American people that somehow we will feel better about the fact that one of the world's most brutal dictatorial regimes has a $40 billion trade surplus with our country and that they use that money to arm our votes. I would hope that people would vote against this rule. Because I would like to offer an amendment to where, if we are really going to address the trade problems and the wrongs in the People's Republic of China, why do we not do something very simple, why do we not instruct our trade agencies and the people responsible for tariffs to, on a quarterly basis, look and see what the Chinese charge us for access to their markets and then adjust our tariffs to meet theirs. It is called fairness. That bill is already drafted. I would like the opportunity to offer it as an amendment. The gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] is the chairman of the Committee on Rules. I would like an open rule so that one of these bills could be amended to do just that.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Portman] for bringing this to the floor, and above all, I would like to thank the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant]. It is said that Moses, after first freeing his people from the Pharaoh, and then wandering for 40 years in the desert, never got to see the promised land. That is sort of how the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant] must feel after his 10 years of trying to get this done. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman from Ohio. Had the Democratic leadership done its job and allowed this to come to the floor when the Democrats controlled the House and allowed the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Deal] to bring his welfare reform bill to the floor when the Democrats still controlled this House, we would probably still be in the majority. But having said that, let me compliment all of the people that worked to make this possible, because it is right under American law that a person is innocent until proven guilty, and therefore, it should only be that a taxpayer is innocent of breaking the law until the tax court proves him guilty. Second, I think it is very important that those people, and I have had a very close friend contact me and say that he thinks the only reason he was audited was because he helped me in one of my campaigns. That is wrong. If that is what really happened, it is wrong, and the people who did that should be punished. This bill would provide a $5,000 fine and up to 5 years in jail to any executive branch employee who is convicted of using undue influence over an IRS audit. Third, I hope that this is just the beginning of true tax reform in this country. I say to my colleagues today, or actually this Friday is the day that the apprentice welders at the shipyards back home get their first paycheck, they will pay more in income taxes than all of the cruise ships who do more than $9 billion worth of business in American ports will pay collectively. They use our ports, they use our firemen, our police, our Corps of Engineers to dredge the channel, our Coast Guard to rescue them when they have trouble at sea. They pay nothing in corporate income taxes. So it is simply not fair to allow that to happen. We need to follow up this great first step with the closing of the loopholes that allow the big guys to get off scot-free.