S5664 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 25, 1995

States submitting sundry nominations

which were referred to the appropriate

committees.

(The nominations received today are

printed at the end of the Senate proceedings.)

EXECUTIVE AND OTHER

COMMUNICATIONS

fThe following communications were

laid before the Senate, together with

accompanying papers, reports, and documents, which were referred as indicated:

EC–712. A communication from the Secretary of Agriculture, transmitting a draft of

proposed legislation to recover costs of carrying out Federal marketing agreements and

orders; to the Committee on Agriculture,

Nutrition, and Forestry.

EC–713. A communication from the Under

Secretary of Defense, transmitting, pursuant

to law, the report of a violation of the

Antideficiency Act, case number 93–2; to the

Committee on Appropriations.

EC–714. A communication from the Under

Secretary of Defense, transmitting, pursuant

to law, the report of a violation of the

Antideficiency Act, case number 94–05; to the

Committee on Appropriations.

EXECUTIVE REPORTS OF

COMMITTEES

fThe following executive reports of

committees were submitted:

By Mrs. KASSEBAUM, from the Committee on Labor and Human Resources:

Harriet M. Zimmerman, of Florida, to be a

member of the Board of Directors of the

United States Institute of Peace for a term

expiring January 19, 1999, vice William R.

Kintner, term expired.

The above nomination was reported

with the recommendation that she be

confirmed, subject to the nominee’s

commitment to respond to requests to

appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of the Senate.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS AND

JOINT RESOLUTIONS

fThe following bills and joint resolutions were introduced, read the first

and second time by unanimous consent, and referred as indicated:

By Mr. DOMENICI (for himself, Mr.

NUNN, and Mr. KERREY):

S. 722. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restructure and replace

the income tax system of the United States

to meet national priorities, and for other

purposes; to the Committee on Finance.

By Mr. BAUCUS:

S. 723. A bill entitled the ‘‘Badger-Two

Medicine Protection Act’’; to the Committee

on Energy and Natural Resources.

By Mr. KOHL (for himself and Mr.

SPECTER):

S. 724. A bill to authorize the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention Programs to make

grants to States and units of local government to assist in providing secure facilities

for violent and chronic juvenile offenders,

and for other purposes; to the Committee on

the Judiciary.

By Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself,

Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. DORGAN, and Mr. WELLSTONE):

S. 725. A bill to amend title 38, United

States Code, to extend certain authorities

relating to the provision of communitybased health care by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes; to the

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED

fBy Mr. DOMENICI (for himself,

Mr. NUNN, and Mr. KERREY):

S. 722. A bill to amend the Internal

Revenue Code of 1986 to restructure

and replace the income tax system of

the United States to meet national priorities, and for other purposes; to the

Committee on Finance.

USA TAX ACT

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, today

for Senator NUNN and myself, this is a

very exciting day because—after more

than 2 years of study, research, and

tremendous help from a lot of people

and a lot of experts—we are today

going to introduce a totally new income tax law for this land, both as to

individuals and corporations.

Today we are going to introduce a totally new Tax Code. We will explain it

to the Senate and the American people

for the next 40 or 50 minutes. And it is

our hope, since we have gone to extreme lengths to develop a totally new

tax code in all respects —and indeed we

will today introduce that totally new

tax code—which will replace and get

rid of the current income tax system in

its totality both as to corporations,

businesses and individuals in the United States.

We are hopeful that this document

will begin a serious debate and that

this approach, which we will explain

today, will find its rightful place very

high on anyone’s list as they look at

the needs of the United States for the

future.

Before I go to my prepared remarks,

let me suggest that for the Senator

from New Mexico these are very exciting times because I believe the vision

that most of us have is for a better

America, for a better America for our

children, a more competitive America

with more good solid high-paying jobs

for which we can train and educate our

people and provide them with an opportunity for a satisfactory and happy life

from the standpoint of material wellbeing.

The two things that haunt us in our

efforts as leaders who say we are going

to do our best to provide that for

America are the enormous amount of

debt that we incur in our Federal budget processes because we refuse to find a

way to pay for the programs and actions of the Federal Government rather

than to borrow for them. Thus we gobble up huge amounts of savings of U.S.

citizens and corporate savings just to

pay that debt, thus minimizing our future growth potential and increasing

interest rates dramatically, and in a

very real way diminish the productivity of our country.

The second thing is that we have a

U.S. Tax Code that instead of promoting and prompting savings and investment is actually a disincentive to both.

Instead of saying to the American people and American corporations we want

you to invest more, we want you to

save more, we have a Tax Code that

says just the opposite. If you do either

of those things, you are penalized

under the American Tax Code; that is,

the savings or investment. If you spend

your money, in a sense you only pay

taxes on that money which you spend

once.

We very much hope in our new bill to

create a level playing field from the

date that it is adopted by the U.S. Congress forward, a level field in that people have a real choice as between investing and saving some of their disposable income and spending it. And as

to American corporations, we hope we

will greatly simplify the process by

which they pay taxes to their country

and at the same time dramatically encourage capital investment as compared with a Tax Code today which penalizes that.

So in order to get where we want to

go, you have to know how to get there.

This is common sense. The advice for a

traveler seeking a destination and for a

nation that is in quest of its destiny,

and when leaders talk about their vision for the future, they invariably

speak of creating a higher standard of

living, better-paying jobs, and stronger

economic growth. We do not do that or

say that just because those are nice

sounding words, but because they are

indeed at the heart and soul of what

America ought to offer to its people

when we say this is a land of opportunity. We know where we want to go.

But how do we get there?

The challenge facing the American

economy, and those who work, those

who invest, those who start companies,

and those who continue companies in a

prosperous way, the challenge facing

them and the best way to improve the

Nation’s prosperity, in almost everyone’s opinion, is to increase savings

and investment.

When Americans save, they are really investing in America, and our Tax

Code should reflect that national priority. Our major trading partners encourage in their tax codes savings, and so

should we. There are many causes of

inadequate private savings and investment, and I have already indicated

that our inability to develop a budget

year by year and over decades, whereby

we pay for what we give our citizens instead of borrowing to give to them, is

one very serious way that we do not

save, or use our savings to pay for our

profligacy.

The other very serious problem and

perhaps most important is the disincentive in our Nation’s tax policies.

The Federal Income Tax Code is unAmerican in spirit and wrong in principle because it levies a double tax on

dividends and taxes savings. It discourages risk taking, entrepreneurship, and