Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in a moment, I am going to ask unanimous consent that it be in order to call up my amendment No. 4787 to the motion to concur in the House amendment. My amendment would restore the estate tax exemption level and top estate tax rates to their 2009 levels of $3.5 million and 45 percent, respectively. It would leave all the other modifications to the estate, gift, and so-called generation-skipping transfer taxes the same as they appear in the underlying amendment. Raising the estate tax exemption level to $5 million and lowering the rate to 35 percent is not the responsible thing to do given our current fiscal situation, and it would only exacerbate widening wealth inequality in America. Only 3 of every 1,000 decedents have estates in excess of $3.5 million. At a time when some people are seriously discussing cutting Social Security, which is relied upon by so many millions of Americans, how can Congress consider this action to benefit the top three-tenths of 1 percent of the population? While we don't have an estimate of the savings to the Treasury from this amendment, we do know it would save our Treasury tens of billions of dollars, which we need to help continue unemployment insurance, Social Security, and other critical programs. Whether one agrees with this amendment or not, this is an amendment which should be debated. The Senate should have an opportunity to debate this issue.…”