Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3058
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3058, TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, THE JUDICIARY, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - June 28, 2005)
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Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I am going to surprise my colleague, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), and support what he just said, part of it, just parts of it. I voted with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) on the credit card issue in the committee. And I say to the gentleman from Wisconsin, I do not know where the right place is to do this, but just think about the issue itself. Any one of us, our children or anybody else can receive a notice, or the credit card company can get a notice, maybe you do not cash a check on time and you get it there, maybe you miss a payment. That person can notify the credit card company, and they can raise your rates by 30 percent. My own daughter went through a credit card fraud where there were people cashing her credit cards all over the country. And that was hard enough.
But the issue the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) is talking about is a valid one. And I hope somewhere, someplace, if someone does object, I will not. We can resolve that issue because it is a terrible issue.
On the issue of tax breaks for the rich, of course we will arm wrestle. Fifty percent of the money that goes to Sub S corporations provides about 70 percent of the jobs in this country. And if you take a look, the economy is improving. The interest rates are low. Inflation is low. The job rate is 5.1 percent, and we are improving a lot because of the things that we have done together in many ways to stimulate the economy.
Now, the tax relief. I happen to believe that the death tax is absolutely wrong. You work your whole life and pay everything you have to build a farm or business, and then the government comes in and wants to take a portion of that. I do not care if it is a million dollars or a hundred million; it is money, labor that you put in to your investment. And many of us feel that that is just wrong. It is not a tax break for the rich, and it improves the economy.
So I do not disagree with my friend on the issue of the credit card. But what I would ask my colleagues, every single bill that I have seen come forward, it is bashing the administration, it is bashing the Republicans. If we take a look and get our arms around this budget and balance the budget, there is going to be more money.
It is like everybody here, you have a checkbook. If you continue to spend more money than you take in, and whether it is Big Bird, whether it is Amtrak, whether it is other things, most of us support the veterans; and hopefully that will come forward in the other body, and we will be able to add money to that. But I would sure like to see less bashing and us reaching across and trying to work together rather than partisan politics. I have a lot of friends on the other side of the aisle, and it grieves me over these last bills to see the action on the House floor.
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