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Guest Commentary June 15, 2002
Tax Limitation Constitutional Amendment Is Waste of Time
The Honorable Alcee Hastings
H.J. Res. 96, the Tax Limitation Constitutional Amendment, has been brought to the House floor for a vote seven times in the past seven years. Each time, year after year, it has failed to gain the 2/3 majority needed to pass. I expect that this year will be no different.
But let's suppose that this year is different. Let us imagine that some of us decide to give in to political expediency and decide to vote for a constitutional amendment that will impair our legislative duty to determine the proper tax rate for the American people and for our government. Would it pass the other body? Undoubtedly, no. Would it pass the state legislatures? Doubtful.
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Why then do the Republicans continue to bring this legislation to the floor? Do my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe that we do not have more important things to talk about? That homeland security and the reorganization of our intelligence community can wait another day or even another hour for us to waste our time on this worthless amendment? That the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are out of work right now and about to run out of temporary unemployment relief can hang on a few more days while we entertain the pigheaded decision to reintroduce this legislation for the seventh time in so many years?
Maybe some of my colleagues suppose that in defiance of precedent and simple math that this amendment will miraculously pass this year? I guarantee you it will not.
That said, I call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote against this amendment and to refrain from wasting our time and the time of the American people with this legislation in the future.
Alcee Hastings, a Democrat, represents the 23rd Congressional District of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives. The above commentary has been adapted from a speech Rep. Hastings delivered on the floor of the House, June 12, 2002. To contact him, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
