Bill Thomas

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton), a valued member of the Committee on Ways and Means, and a gentleman who understands the rules.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ramstad), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman), a valuable member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to merely respond that someone once said that everyone talks about the weather, but no one can do anything about it. This is tax reduction. We can do something about it. We can vote aye on H.R. 3. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson), a member of the committee.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire about the time remaining on each side.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the Federal Government has been eating the American taxpayers' dinner for too long. We would just like to give a little of it back. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), a new member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), one of the newer members of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, those numbers are very bright, they are very bold, they are nicely drawn, they are absolutely wrong. Mr. Speaker, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery) on how wrong the numbers are.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I do rise, along with the entire Republican leadership and every Republican member of the Committee on Ways and Means and the vast majority of Republicans in opposition to the substitute.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Again, I guess I am just a little bit confused. I thought that what we heard for the last hour was how quickly Republicans were moving, and that we just should not really move this quickly on a tax cut. I thought I just heard my friend and colleague from New York now indicate that we are not moving in this tax bill on the marriage penalty, on the death tax, on child credit, on alleviating the alternative minimum tax; and they just wonder if we are ever going to move. I would tell the gentleman that, just as the President in the joint session in the well said that he wanted immediate tax relief for all Americans, which we are providing today, he also mentioned that we should have a child credit increase; that we should fix the marriage penalty; that we should eliminate the death tax. And we are going to do all of those. I look forward to working with my colleague as we go forward in putting those tax packages together. It is March, and I do apologize to the gentleman because we do not have all of those other portions of the President's plan in front of us today, but I know that we will work diligently in committee; and before this month is out, very likely, we will be able to present the rest of the President's package. So I do take the admonition about moving quickly for the other parts of the package, and I look forward to the gentleman working with us. Today is not the day, however; and today is to pass the heart of the President's program, and that is the rate reductions, the lowering of the fundamental structure of taxes for all income tax payers. That is what H.R. 3 does, and that is why we support the bill rather than this quickly conceived, hastily thrown together substitute.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey), the majority leader.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts), the Conference chairman.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes and 10 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority whip.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Hulshof), a very valuable member of the Committee on Ways and Means. (Mr. HULSHOF asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), a very valuable member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my real pleasure to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery), a very valuable member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 45 seconds. Mr. Speaker, I believe that pretty well clears the air in terms of what some folks want to do with other people's money. I believe that the point of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) was that there are a number of Americans who do not pay income taxes. This is a reduction, a permanent reduction in the income tax rate. More than 60 million women income tax payers will be benefitted. More than 16 million African American income tax payers will be benefitted. More than 15 million Hispanic American income taxpayers will be benefitted. Those African Americans, Hispanics and women who will be benefitted are income taxpayers. The concern of the gentlewoman about those who do not pay income taxes was addressed by the President when he talked about needed reform in Social Security. We will be doing that, and we will be doing it soon. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), chairman of the Republican Policy Committee.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I would certainly yield to the gentleman from New York on his time.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield briefly?

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I do not believe there is any argument.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp), a member of the committee.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of H.R. 3, the bill just passed.