Sam Farr: “I think we see ourselves in a situation that is good news-bad news. The good news is that we are talking about reform…”

“I think we see ourselves in a situation that is good news-bad news. The good news is that we are talking about reform, and there is no dispute in this country that we need reform. Everybody is talking about it. The Democrats have had an alternative; the Republicans have a total repeal. The bad news is that there is no real interest in reform. It is just interest in sending a message. If my Republican colleagues were really interested in pure tax reform and helping the people they talk about, they would have gone down and worked out with the President something he would sign. And he said he would sign something as long as it was reasonable. But this is just total repeal. And my colleagues knew that he would veto that, and that is mean. I am one of those who voted with my Republican colleagues because I thought perhaps they would lead us into a meaningful discussion of how we could have reasonable inheritance tax reform. My colleagues have not done that. They have failed in that leadership. They have been more interested in a political message than in trying to solve this problem in the United States. Shame on them. And that is why some of us are going to start supporting the President in his veto, because the Republicans did not want reform, they just wanted a message.”