HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES—Thursday, June 9, 2005
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June 9, 2005 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE 12005 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES—Thursday, June 9, 2005 The House met at 10 a.m. minute and to revise and extend his re- Combine the five educational tax The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. marks.) breaks to one tax break for higher edu- Coughlin, offered the following prayer: Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, a 10-year- cation for $3,000 for everybody going to Eternal Father of all and well-spring old Knoxville, Tennessee child, Luke college; unify the various child credits of youthful dreams, bless the young Whitson, and some of his friends chose and earned income tax credit to a sin- women and men who have served these to read the Bible to each other during gle simplified tax family credit; sim- past months as pages of the U.S. House recesses instead of playing on the jun- plify the 16 different versions of the of Representatives. As their term of gle gym or kickball. Luke’s principal Tax Code for savings to one universal service comes to an end, inspire each of was not amused. She put a stop on this 401(k) pension; and, finally, encourage them with expansive hopes and fill terrible practice at once and told the homeownership. We should create a them with great aspirations to create students not to bring their Bibles to universal mortgage deduction for all powerful futures both for themselves school again. taxpayers. and for this Nation. Now, we expect principals to protect Mr. Speaker, we need a tax system We praise You and we thank You for kids from bullying and ensure a that reflects the American values and their families and all of those who have healthy learning environment. We do fosters the American Dream, not the mentored the pages in their program: not expect them to dictate issues of current system written by and for the their work, their school, and in their faith or, worse, mandate a faith-free special interests. dorm. May this experience of govern- environment. However, this principal is f ment at work deepen their commit- a ground soldier in a national cam- ment to learning and their ability to paign to remove faith, even voluntary SOCIAL SECURITY PROPERTY make friends with diverse people from expressions of it, from publicly funded RIGHTS across the Nation, forming them into programs and facilities. (Mr. MILLER of Florida asked and leaders for tomorrow. School children, all people, should was given permission to address the May the Members of Congress sur- have the right to read freely in their House for 1 minute and to revise and rounded by such youthful presence own free time, whether it is during re- extend his remarks.) grow in their tender understanding of cess at school or in the break room Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, America’s young people, their needs, during lunch at work. as I listen to the national debate on their dreams, their problems, their val- Our government buys and provides Social Security reform, I am left won- ues, and their abilities. copies of the Koran and prayer rugs to dering why no one is talking about Ever-living Lord, help young and old terrorist prisoners at Gitmo. We expect America’s greatest principles, and that Americans alike develop skills to cross our soldiers to honor a terrorist’s right is property rights. the generational divide, that we may to worship freely, but will we stand for I get letters, e-mails, and phone calls all grow up to be one Nation under the right of an American child to do so every day from my constituents de- God. Amen. as well? Sounds like somebody is para- manding that I do not take away their f noid. guaranteed Social Security benefits. THE JOURNAL f That leads me to believe that our Na- tion’s citizens may not understand The SPEAKER. The Chair has exam- PRINCIPLES OF TAX REFORM that they really have no legal right to ined the Journal of the last day’s pro- (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given their Social Security benefits. ceedings and announces to the House permission to address the House for 1 The Supreme Court ruled in his approval thereof. minute and to revise and extend his re- Flemming v. Nestor that there is no Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Jour- marks.) legal right to Social Security benefits. nal stands approved. Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, we In the eyes of the Court, it is deemed a f have a tax system that is needlessly tax-and-spend program in which Con- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE complicated and burdensome to the gress can change the rules regarding The SPEAKER. Will the gentleman middle class. It is time for funda- eligibility at any time, and it has mental tax reform that reflects the many times over in past years. That is from Arizona (Mr. FLAKE) come for- ward and lead the House in the Pledge values and the interests of all Ameri- how our current system works. of Allegiance. cans, not the special interests. Mr. Speaker, it is time for reform. It Mr. FLAKE led the Pledge of Alle- When President Bush announced his is time to give American taxpayers giance as follows: tax reform commission, he said his back their personal property rights. core principle was that it should not Personal accounts would give workers I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Repub- hurt government revenues. true legal property rights to their con- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, Democrats believe that the core prin- tributions and their benefits. They indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ciple of tax reform is that tax reform could not be raided to pay for other f should help the middle class achieve programs. Personal accounts are the their goals. Tax reform is about the ultimate lockbox. ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER middle class and economic growth, not f The SPEAKER. The Chair will enter- about government revenue. NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE tain up to 10 1-minute speeches on each In the last 4 years the Tax Code has side. been filled with special breaks for spe- (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given f cial interests. At the same time, the permission to address the House for 1 tax burdens have shifted from the minute and to revise and extend his re- BANNING BOOKS wealthy to those who work, from divi- marks.) (Mr. PITTS asked and was given per- dend to wages. Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, as so mission to address the House for 1 What should we do? many American families struggle with b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. VerDate Sep 11 2014 10:10 Feb 02, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0688 Sfmt 0634 E:\FDSYS\2005BOUNDRECORD\BOOK9\NO_SSN\BR09JN05.DAT BR09JN05 ejoyner on DSK30MW082PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE 12006 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE June 9, 2005 the rising costs of health care and with intelligence authorization bill from the Wheldon’s winning highlight was a dra- the unavailability of health care, I floor today because the leadership here matic pass of the sensational rookie think it is important to keep in mind is doing the dirty work of Defense Sec- Danica Patrick with only six laps left that roughly one-third of every health retary Rumsfeld. in the race. care dollar goes to wasteful adminis- We all know that Rumsfeld was Although Danica Patrick may not tration and profit. The result is that against the intelligence reforms that have won, she made history. Danica we pay more for our health care than the 9/11 Commission suggested, and Patrick of Rahal-Letterman finished in any other industrialized country by a now he is trying to prevent those re- fourth place, the best finish ever for a wide margin. forms from moving forward. The Re- woman. Since American businesses are the publican leadership is keeping the in- b 1015 main provider of health care in the telligence bill from coming to the floor She also had the highest starting po- United States, they bear the burden today because Secretary Rumsfeld does sition for a woman and was the first and it is hurting their competitiveness. not want to give up any intelligence woman to lead a lap at the Indianapolis How do we know? Our competition tells control to new Intelligence Director 500. us so. Negroponte. I would like to congratulate Dan The CEO of the Ford Motor Company Let us be clear, Secretary Rumsfeld Wheldon, Danica Patrick and the en- of Canada, the president and CEO of and the Republican leadership are pre- tire field of 33 drivers, their racing GM Canada, and the CEO of venting intelligence reform that could teams, the Indianapolis Racing League DaimlerChrysler Canada had this to make our Nation safer than it is today. and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway say in a 2002 letter: ‘‘Publicly funded The 9/11 commissioners warned us for a spectacular race. Congratulations health care thus accounts for a signifi- earlier this week that time is not on again. cant portion of Canada’s overall labor our side. It is time the House Repub- cost advantage in auto assembly, lican leadership stops listening to f versus the U.S. which in turn has been Rumsfeld and starts listening to the 9/ ONE THING I KNOW FOR CERTAIN a significant factor in maintaining and 11 Commission so we can finally begin (Mrs.