May 17, 2001 Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, when my colleague, who I respect and admire and like and work with frequently, makes these points, I just profoundly disagree. I do not think this is a balanced package. I showed the chart as to why I do not think this is balanced. He is talking about upsetting the balance. This is not my idea of balance. The top 1 percent get 33 percent of the benefits, and the bottom 60 percent get 15 percent of the benefits. Half as much for the bottom 60 percent as the top 1 percent? And this is called a carefully crafted balance? Looking at it a different way, the bottom 20 percent get 1 percent of the benefits, the top 20 percent get 70 percent of the benefits. And this is a carefully crafted balance? There is no balance. The top 1 percent get 33 percent of the benefits, twice as much as the bottom 60 percent. When we look at rate reduction, it is very interesting. These are the rates that are in the current code: For the 15-percent rate, they do not get any rate reduction, none, zip. Interestingly enough, that is where the vast majority of the American taxpayers are. That is where 70 percent of the American taxpayers are. They get no rate reduction. For the 28 percent, they get 3 points, about a 10 percent on rate reduction; the same is true at 31 percent; the same is true at 36 percent. The very top, the very wealthiest who pay a rate of 39.6 percent, get the biggest rate reduction of all, but the bottom rate, where 70 percent of the American taxpayers are, gets nothing. They call this balanced? I do not see any balance. They call this fair, carefully calibrated? Carefully calibrated if you are at the top. But if you are one of the 70 percent of the American people who are down here in the 15-percent bracket, you get no rate relief. It does not seem carefully calibrated to me. It does not seem fair to me. It does not seem balanced to me. When there are five rates in the current Tax Code and only one rate gets no rate relief, and it just happens to be the rate where 70 percent of the American taxpayers are, that does not strike me as balanced. And the biggest rate reduction going to the very top bracket does not seem balanced to me. I do not think it is going to seem balanced to the American people when they have a chance to review it. I do not think it is going to seem balanced to them when they have a chance to find out the details. I do not think the 70 percent of the American people who find out they get no rate relief are going to think they have been treated very fairly. This thing is weighted to the very top, the very wealthiest among us. That is what this is. It is not balanced. It is not fair. I yield the floor.