Political Quotes

“as we speak, there is work going on on redrafting the Gramm-Roth amendment to add what I think is a vitally important provision to provide tax relief through full deductibility of health insurance for the self-employed. To me that is another very, very significant step that we should take for the purpose of fairness, the purpose of assuring that all people in this country have health care, to ensure that those who may suffer illnesses or disability as a result of the use of tobacco have adequate care when they become ill. The revised amendment has not yet been offered, but I rise in strong support of the Gramm-Roth amendment, because it will return a portion of the revenues raised from the tobacco tax to taxpayers who are bearing the burden of this tax increase. I am pleased to be a cosponsor. The objective is to discourage use of tobacco by raising the price, and certainly tax increases will do that, but the purpose of the bill should not be to raise the taxes and produce massive new Government spending. I think it is appropriate that we use this bill to provide tax relief to the people who are going to be paying increased taxes on tobacco. The amendment's phaseout of the marriage penalty for couples with incomes of less than $50,000 is a solid first step to eliminating the marriage penalty completely. We should be encouraging people to marry and raise their children in a marriage.”