Dianne Feinstein: “Mr. President, we have worked hard over the last 7 years to restore strength to our Nation's economy. We have turned…”

“Mr. President, we have worked hard over the last 7 years to restore strength to our Nation's economy. We have turned record deficits into record surpluses. Today, we are about to make a decision none of us could have imagined making in 1993. The question facing us is: How should we spend the first significant portion of the surplus? Our Republican colleagues believe we should use the first major portion of the surplus to eliminate a tax that is paid by only the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. They say the first, best use of the surplus is to give people with estates worth more than $20 million a $10.5 million tax break. The cost of their plan is $105 billion for the first 10 years. In the second 10 years, the cost balloons to $750 billion. Three-quarters of a trillion dollars in the second 10 years alone--to eliminate a tax paid only by the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. The full cost of the Republican estate tax cut would hit at the worst possible time: just as the baby boomers are starting to retire. That is our Republican colleagues' highest priority for the surplus: to help those who are already benefitting most from this economy. Democrats disagree. We support cutting the estate tax.”