In the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, Senator Clinton Calls On Bill Frist to Postpone Senate Action on The Ill-Timed Estate Tax Repeal Measure
In the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, Senator Clinton Calls On Bill Frist to Postpone Senate Action on The Ill-Timed Estate Tax Repeal Measure
September 3, 2005
The Honorable William H. Frist, M.D.
United States Senate Majority Leader
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Frist:
In the wake of one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history, it is unfathomable that the Senate has chosen to focus its efforts on more tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy instead of helping our most vulnerable citizens whose lives have been shattered by Hurricane Katrina.
Instead of ensuring that all necessary resources for the ongoing relief efforts in the Gulf Coast are in place, instead of ensuring that all the calls for assistance to families who have been left without food, shelter and clothing have been answered, we are instead planning a vote on an additional $290 billion of tax cuts for the richest people in the nation. Simply put, the Senate's consideration of the estate tax repeal measure is exactly the wrong priority for our nation at this tragic time.
If our consciences were not jolted by the Census Bureau's latest report which indicated that 1.1 million more Americans fell into poverty last year, or the fact that the gulf between the haves and the have nothings has grown even larger, I would hope that the Senate would be compelled to act by the dramatic images and reports of our fellow Americans dying and suffering in our streets.
Indeed, while millions of our fellow citizens call out for a competent and caring government to help us through this disaster, the Senate's response to these calls for courage and leadership is a scheduled vote for hundreds of billions of more dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy who have already been well looked after by this Administration's economic policies.
It is telling that before we had time to ensure that every possible step is being taken to care for the hundreds of thousands of our neighbors and fellow citizens who are without homes, water or health care, we have found time to provide billionaires and millionaires with more tax cuts.
I call on you to postpone action on this measure until all Senators have had an opportunity to be fully briefed on the latest damage assessments and relief efforts and we have a chance to enact a comprehensive relief and recovery package for the victims of Katrina. Indeed, I look forward to working with you to provide any and every resource, such as further emergency assistance, emergency Medicaid, food stamps and cash assistance for the sake of the hundreds of thousands of our children, seniors and families that have been left behind in the Gulf.
The values and spirit of community that Americans celebrate are like a barn raising where community members pull together to rebuild a farmhouse destroyed by wind or fire, not the act of the most privileged pulling away and leaving while their neighbors are suffering. It is my sincere hope that the values that Americans celebrate triumphs over the Senate's shortsighted priorities.
Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=245233&&