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   (Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

   Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in 1898 the Federal tax on telephone service, the tax on talking, was first levied as a temporary measure to fund the Spanish-American War. That war lasted only a few months, and yet the taxes lasted for over a hundred years.

   Unfortunately, in 1990 a Democratic-controlled Congress made it permanent, which just goes to show us one thing about Washington: once there is a tax on the books, it is almost impossible to get rid of it.

   But this week we are going to achieve the impossible. We are going to get rid of this Federal telephone tax once and for all. This will provide tax relief to the nearly 95 percent of American households who have telephone service, and it will help keep the Internet free from direct taxation.

   Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders fought valiantly in the Spanish-American War, but we have long since cleared the ledger on that victory. It is a hundred years later and way past time to repeal this outdated tax on working Americans.

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