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   The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. SHERMAN) is recognized for 5 minutes.

   Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, we are engaged in a great fiscal debate in which the Governor of Texas tells us that, under his plan, every American who pays taxes will get tax relief. He is completely wrong. He should know that there are 15 million Americans who pay Federal taxes, who pay FICA taxes out of their wages that will not get a penny out of his tax plan, because he ignores the working poor. Those who care for people in nursing homes, those who clean our buildings and wash our cars are left behind. What is worse, of course, is that he provides almost half the benefits to the richest 1 percent of Americans.

   Now, what concerns me most about the Governor's statements is that he mocks the importance of fiscal responsibility when he tells the country that the prosperity of the last 8 years has nothing to do with governmental decisions made in Washington.

   He is correct that the lion's share of the credit for our national prosperity goes to American workers whose ingenuity, hard work and inventiveness is building a new economy. But for political gain, he denies that there is another essential element, and that is fiscal responsibility here in Washington.

   By denying that what we do here in Washington has anything to do with how the economy performs, he grants to us a fiscal license, a statement that government has nothing to do with prosperity, hence government can do whatever it wants.

   The fact is otherwise. The facts are that, during the mid-1980s and the late 1980s and the early 1990s, Americans were hard working and inventive and ingenious, and yet we did not have prosperity in this country.

[Time: 19:45]

   Why? Because we had a budget deficit that was growing every year and threatened to swallow up private savings in our economy. We cannot afford the license the political rhetoric from the Governor of Texas would grant.

   Now, we are told by the Governor that he does not want to provide so much benefit to the upper 1 percent. He tells us that his plan will provide only $223 billion of tax relief to that richest 1 percent over the next 10 years. He does this by ignoring the second largest piece of his proposal, and that is his repeal of the estate tax. He tries to minimize the fiscal effect of that by using fuzzy phase-in figures.

   But the fact is the estate tax will be producing $50 billion a year, $500 billion over 10 years, which means the wealthiest 1 percent, over a 10-year period, will be getting $700 billion of tax relief, not just the $223 billion the Governor admits to. That is why when we look at the estate tax and the income tax the conclusion is clear: he provides more tax relief for the wealthiest 1 percent than everything he proposes to do to help our health care system, to strengthen Medicare, to strengthen the military and to provide for our schools combined.

   It is time that we focus on the fiscal details of the plans of those who are running for President. This is not a popularity contest.

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