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Van tours the Murray plant in Lawrenceburg where he looks on as Helen Fisher (center) and Randall Favors (right) work on producing a push mower.

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I Will Continue Fight for Repeal of Burdensome Death Tax

Needing a two-thirds majority to override, Congress voted 274 – 157 to override the veto of the “Death Tax Elimination Act” (H.R. 8), a bill I co-sponsored.  A two-thirds majority (288 votes) is needed to override a presidential veto.  The bill, with 213 Republicans, 65 Democrats and one independent in favor, passed in June but was vetoed in August.  It would have repealed the estate, gift and generation skipping transfer tax within 10 years. 

All nine Tennessee Congressmen, five Republicans and four Democrats, voted for this legislation in June, and also voted to override the President’s veto today.  This is not, nor should it be, a partisan issue. It is simply an issue of fairness.

No American should be forced to visit the IRS and the undertaker on the same day.  The death tax is one of the most unfair taxes on the books, because it taxes farmers, families and small business owners twice.  They pay taxes all their lives, then the federal government taxes the value of their property again at the time of death. 

I am very disappointed the President didn’t join with us to put an end to something so contrary to the American dream.  However, I am optimistic that when we return next year, the absence of election year politics will give us a good chance to finally bury the death tax once and for all. 

According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) sixty percent of small-business owners report that they would create new jobs over the coming year if the death tax were eliminated.

No American should be forced to pay 55 percent of his savings, business or property value in taxes after death.  This tax is unfair, and I’m fully committed to its repeal.

As a member of the Education and Workforce Committee in Congress, I am a strong supporter of giving state and local school systems, along with their teachers and parents, much more say in the child’s education.  At the same time, I have worked to move our increased federal education dollars (a nine percent increase in federal education spending in grades K-12) out of Washington, DC to instead be spent directly on our children in our Tennessee classrooms.  As we continue this process, it is obviously very important for Congress to continue to get input on federal education policy from the local level.

During the August recess, I invited Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Bill Goodling to convene a field hearing of our committee in Tennessee.  We held the hearing on August 24th at Gibbs High School in Knox County.  It was a great opportunity to hear from local educators and parents. 

The field hearing focused on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  IDEA is a program that requires states and local school districts to give disabled children the same educational opportunities to learn as other children.  This is obviously a worthy goal. 

However, many school administrators feel IDEA strains their budgets, and many teachers and principals believe it ties their hands when it comes to disciplining disruptive students.  In my opinion, these concerns are well-founded and need to be addressed.  In part, that’s why I brought our committee to Tennessee.

When IDEA was passed in 1975, the federal government pledged to fund 40 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure in order to assist with the additional costs of educating students with disabilities.  Neither the Congress nor the President has lived up to that commitment.

In 1995 (the most recent year data was available), the share of IDEA the federal government originally committed to fund would have amounted to $240,534,900 in Tennessee.  The State of Tennessee actually received only $46,942,700 from the federal government to offset the additional costs of IDEA.  If the forty percent promise had been kept, Tennessee would have received an additional $193,592,200 in 1995 alone.  These additional funds would make a huge difference for Tennessee’s school children.

During my tenure on the House Education and Workforce Committee, and under the leadership of Chairman Bill Goodling, the federal contribution to IDEA has grown from roughly seven percent of the average per pupil expenditure to almost thirteen percent.  This year, I co-sponsored the “IDEA Full Funding Act of 2000,” which the House passed.  The act sets a schedule to meet the federal government’s 40 percent funding commitment by 2010.
 

I believe we must meet the federal government’s pledge to fund forty percent of the costs of IDEA.  Such an action will not only help the disabled children this act was intended to serve, but will also give local schools more flexibility in the use of their own funds, which would then be freed up to spend on smaller classrooms, teacher salary increases or any number of other needs.

A good part of the hearing was spent discussing school discipline problems and IDEA.  Many teachers and principals feel they have lost the ability to maintain order in the classroom because some special needs children are receiving protections beyond those originally envisioned by IDEA due to the fear of lawsuits.

The tightrope we must walk in order to protect the rights of disabled children while not infringing on the rights of other students to learn in an orderly environment may be the toughest task facing students, teachers and school administrators today.  We must find a solution that takes into account the needs of educators as well as the students they teach.  Our laws should create an environment where all students can interact and learn the information they need to be successful in the future.

I appreciate the testimony of our witnesses:  Jacksboro Middle School teacher Jamie Baird, Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Vernon Coffey, State Representative Jamie Hagood, IDEA parent Angie Irick and Knox County School Superintendent Dr. Charles Lindsey.  Thanks to their input, as well as that of others who submitted written testimony, I believe that those of us on the House Education and Workforce Committee will have a better understanding of the problems IDEA presents local schools, as well as some new ideas on how to tackle these problems.

The House returned from its August recess on September 6th. 

Thursday, it fell short in its effort to override President Clinton's veto of the Death Tax Elimination Act (see column one). 

The House passed H.R. 4678, the Child Support Distribution Act of 2000.  The bill helps the more than 30 million children now owed $50 billion in unpaid child support.  It also simplifies the rules governing the distribution of child support collected by states.  H.R. 4678  authorizes demonstration programs on encouraging the collection of child support.    Additionally, it implements a fatherhood grant program that can be utilized by faith-based institutions to promote marriage, encourage successful parenting, and help fathers find jobs and increase their earnings.