Chris Dodd: “I will have additional inclusions for the Record further in the debate as I lay out the arguments for this motion. This…”

“I will have additional inclusions for the Record further in the debate as I lay out the arguments for this motion. This is about priorities and choices. Those involved in public life are constantly asked to make choices and establish sets of priorities. It is not easy in many cases. Sometimes the choices are very difficult to make. In this case, the choice is a rather easy choice, it seems to me, given the facts presented by this motion. The amendment we offered 2 weeks ago and the substitute offered by the chairman of the Committee on Finance that this body adopted, provides for $12.9 billion for disability payments to veterans, $6.9 billion for veterans medical care, and $1 billion for veterans health facilities. I will explain those particular items in more detail in a few minutes. Basically, that was the amendment to which this body agreed. The offset proposed in my amendment would have sunset the capital gains and dividends tax breaks for only those people making more than $1 million a year--which amounts to two-tenths of 1 percent of all taxpayers--99.8 percent of all other taxpayers under our proposal would not have been touched, only those making more than $1 million a year. We suggested that the money saved by not providing the tax break for people in that small group be used to pay for the veterans benefits I have described. The House bill proposes to raise to $64.8 billion the amount we spend on tax benefits for the income group I have just described.…”