House Proceeding 02-13-09 on Feb 13th, 2009 :: 0:38:40 to 0:44:25
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0:38:36 to 0:38:56( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: witness, i will at least be able to tell them the truth, that it will not and i will tell them we will keep trying until we do right by them. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: mr. poe of texas. >> mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to take the time of mr. poe.

0:38:40 to 0:44:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: David Dreier

0:38:57 to 0:39:20( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from california has five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. following up on the very thoughtful remarks of my friend, mr. mctter, i'd like to y that we all have instance after instance of individuals who have been suffering greatly. i this morning as we opened this

0:39:21 to 0:39:43( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: debate talked about a great tragedy, that being the fact that a man called my office saying that his young son's best friend had just informed him that his father had committed suicide. that's clearly the most painful story you can hear of the impact of what we're feeling now with this economic down turn.

0:39:44 to 0:40:04( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: it has been absolutely devastating. friends who've lost their homes, lost their jobs, lost their savings, we are dealing with what obviously is a very, very difficult time. that's the reason that there is such passion on this debate. now i quoted earlier during the

0:40:05 to 0:40:26( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: debate the words of henry morgenthau who was the secretary of the treasury under franklin roosevelt, who in 1939, 1939, after having gone through years of the new deal, said the following before the house ways and means committee in testimony. he said, we have tried spending money, we're spending more than we have ever spent and it does

0:40:27 to 0:40:47( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: not work. i say after eight years of this roosevelt administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started and an enormous debt to boot. now, mr. speaker, that is the reason that we feel that we can't just say no, we know that that is not the panacea that many people believe it is and

0:40:48 to 0:41:08( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: instead we need to focus on what works. and instance after instance, mr. speaker, has shown what does work. in 1961,resident john f. kennedy and this underscores this great quest for bipartisanship, delivered a speech to the economic club of new york, actually it was a year

0:41:09 to 0:41:29( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: later, in 1962. and in that speech he said, to increase demand and lift the economy the federal government's most useful role is not to rush into a program of excessive increases in public expenditures, but to expand the

0:41:30 to 0:41:50( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: incentives and opportunities for private expenditures. now those are the words, mr. speaker, of democratic president john f. kennedy in the early 1960's. he had just brought about broad, across-the-board marginal rate reduction. and let me tell what that brought about, too. it brought about an increase in the flow of revenues to the

0:41:51 to 0:42:11( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: federal treasury. in fact, the top income tax rate was cut from 90% to 70% and revenues to the federal government increased by 62%. it actually grew revenues to the treasury by reducing those rates. also at that same period of time, tax collections from the

0:42:12 to 0:42:33( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: top bracket, those in the top bracket, grew by 57%. meaning those who had marginal rate reduction at the top end actually paid more in taxes because of the economic growth and that was juxtaposed to tax collections all the way across thboard from the kennedy tax cuts, which only grew revenues by 11%. and then, mr. speaker, i was

0:42:34 to 0:42:55( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: very privileged to come here following the 1980 election and we had the last serious economic downturn that we faced as a nation. nearly three decades ago. and ronald reagan pursued the same policies that were pursued by john f. kennedy. he brought about sweeping

0:42:56 to 0:43:16( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: marginal rate reduction and, mr. speaker, that grew the flow of revenues to the treasury -- federal treasury, nearly doubling that flow ofevenues. and the share of tax payments by the top 10%, again, those -- the top 10% of wage earners in this country grew from 48% to moe than 57%.

0:43:17 to 0:43:37( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: that means those in the top 10% of income levels actually had an increase of nearly 10 percentage points, nearly 10 percentage points, in the flow of revenues that came in from the federal treasury. or actually they were paying more in taxes, from 48% to 57%,

0:43:38 to 0:43:58( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: while the share that was borne by the top 1%, the very rich, grew even more dramatically, 17% to nearly 28%. thus the flow of tax payments that came from those people who were the very richest in this country. and that's why, mr. speaker, we're arguinthat the enomic

0:43:59 to 0:44:19( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: stimulus working group that was put together by leader boehner and chaired by our distinguished whip, mr. cantor, used these models of proven examples, not the failed policies that were pointed to by secretary morgenthau in 1939, but the success following the 1961 cut and the 1981 cut.

0:44:20 to 0:44:25( Edit History Discussion )

David Dreier: that's why we're not simply saying no, mr. speaker. we're saying, let's put a positive economic growth package