Mitch Landrieu: “While some Members of this Senate intend to vote for this bill, I am one who will not be voting for the bill. I would…”

“While some Members of this Senate intend to vote for this bill, I am one who will not be voting for the bill. I would like to restate why. There is only one reason, one specific reason, and I think one compelling reason, that injustice was done in this bill after it left the Senate, and that injustice was that the one provision which would give direct tax relief to the men and women on the front lines, the Guard and Reserve fighting in Afghanistan, in Iraq, or whether it is North Korea, or South Korea, was left out of the bill. We have a lot of bills, and not all of them are this fat, this full, and this expensive. This is $137 billion. In 2 years, we negotiated between the House and the Senate. I know the Senator from Wyoming is aware of this because he helped to put it in. But there was only one provision in this entire bill that would have actually directed some modest tax relief to the men and women in the Guard and Reserve. But for some reason--I am not sure if it was politics, I am not sure if it was an election, I am not sure because I have not gotten an answer yet from anyone about why it was left out.”