FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 12, 2003

CONTACT: Brendan Daly 202-225-0100

Pelosi: ‘GOP So Frightened of Debate on Child Tax Credit They Are Hiding Behind a Procedural Vote’

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke this afternoon on the House floor in opposition to the Republican rule that prevented a vote on the child tax credit expansion passed by the Senate. Below are her remarks:

“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Frost, for yielding and for the magnificent way that he has managed this rule today.

“Little did we know when we were discussing this issue of an expansion of tax credit for working families in our country and for the children of our military men and women, that it would be a bill that would be managed by the Rules Committee. Little did we know that a bill of the magnitude of $82 billion would be something that would be unveiled on Tuesday night, not go to committee for review. When it went to the Rules Committee yesterday to not have the leadership or the author of the bill present to defend it. And now we know why -- because they never intended to have a rule to bring the bill to the floor.

“So frightened of debate on this issue are the Republicans, so frightened of the outcome, that their own Members could not support this outrage, that they’re putting forth today that they had to hide their ill will toward America’s children behind this procedural vote. They had to command the loyalty of the Republicans on a procedural vote because they knew they could not hold them on the substance of their bill.

“But that’s the reality of it, and so we have to use the opportunity under this rule, as limited as it is, to point out what is so very wrong about what is going on the floor of the House today.

“Let’s talk about the children. President Kennedy said that, ‘Children are our greatest resource and our best hope for the future.’ A beautiful statement, one I’m sure that we would all agree with. He didn’t say ‘children of those making over a certain level of income in our country are our greatest resource, and if their parents do not serve in the military, they are our best hope for the future.’

“But that’s what this rule says today. We had an opportunity in this body to expand the tax credit for children of working families and of military families by simply calling from the desk the Senate bill. It’s right there at the desk. We could take it up by unanimous consent. The distinguished Majority Leader is here.

“We could agree to take it up by unanimous consent, it would be passed unanimously, would be on the president’s desk within the hour, signed into law, and all of the children that we’re talking about -- children of our men and women in uniform, children of families that are making between $10,000 and $26,000 -- would get the tax credit expansion this year.

“No matter what the Republicans want to say about their proposal, it sabotages that good intention. There is no way that with the proposal that they are putting forth, costing $82 billion, unpaid for, indebting the same children they purport to care about, indebting those same children to the tune of $82 billion.

“Granting with one hand -- but not granting to all children, and not granting this year -- but taking away with the other for a long time to come. Burying our children in a mountain of debt, heaped on to the debt incurred by their previous tax legislation and depriving the children of federal initiatives to invest in their education, in their health, in their well-being, in their future, and in the future of their country.

“The Republicans insist on doing this even though the opportunity that I said earlier exists. And why? One would have to suspect that they do not want to have a tax credit for the children of America’s military and the children of working families between the income of $10,000 and $26,000, certainly not this year. Even though we cannot take up a full consideration of the bill, or heaven forbid, a substitute to it -- indeed even the Senate bill which passed 94 to 2, a bipartisan piece of legislation, approved by the president -- even though we can’t do it, and we can’t have that discussion, it is important to note several facts.

“One is that the families that we are talking about here, working full time, working full time. Many of those families make less than Members of Congress. They make less in a year than Members of Congress do in one month. And yet, Members of Congress will receive the expansion of the tax credit this year. But no, no, no, if you make $10,000 to $26,000, I’m sorry, children, you’re out of luck. The Republicans give new meaning to the Biblical phrase, ‘suffer, little children.’

“The other point to make is about the military. In the military, it’s important to note that combat pay does not count toward consideration of the child tax credit. Under current law, an E-5 or an E-6 sergeant with six years of service and two children would not be entitled to the full tax credit if he is in combat.

“So, the minute that sergeant went to Iraq, if he stayed there for six months, his combat pay would not count toward his income for tax purposes, and so his children would not receive the tax credit expansion. This is not corrected in the Republican bill. The Senate bill helps these military families. The House bill does not. It is important also to know that this legislation really is suspected as one that would kill the tax expansion of the tax credit.

“The Senators have said that they will not support the package if it is not paid for. They certainly have made it clear that they are not going to add $82 billion to the deficit, to the debt. The issue before the House is clear-we can pass a fiscally responsible tax credit bill that helps 12 million children, including 250,000 children from military families, or we can indebt them for future generations.

“We can invest in our children, or we can indebt them. That is the choice that the Republicans have put before us.

“Mr. Speaker, when I referenced the comments of President Kennedy. It was with the hope that we would agree in a bipartisan way in this body that when we say that children are our greatest resource and our best hope for the future that we are talking about all of the children in our country.

“We all want the best for our children. Many of us are privileged -- I have five children, five grandchildren, I want the best for them. But they can’t have the best opportunity unless every child in America has opportunity. The Senate bill would enable that, the House bill does not.

“I urge my colleagues to vote no on the rule, and in doing so, to support the value that we place on our children as our messengers to a future that we will never see. We want them to take forward a message of respect for all children in our country.”

“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi