Karen Thurman: “Mr. Speaker, I just think this is the wrong bill at the wrong time for hardworking taxpayers who work hard to make ends…”

“Mr. Speaker, I just think this is the wrong bill at the wrong time for hardworking taxpayers who work hard to make ends meet today and retire comfortably tomorrow. Working Americans get little from this bill. They already have received 70 percent of the tax cut that Congress passed last year: the 10 percent rate, increased child care credit, education incentives, and higher pension contribution limits. So what does this bill do for middle America? First, it will bring even more working Americans under the alternative minimum tax. By 2012, 39 million taxpayers, about one in three, will face AMT liability. This bill gives a promise with one hand and takes away the promised tax cut with the other. This bill increases the deficit by $374 billion over the next 10 years. Every dollar of that added deficit comes from the Social Security trust funds. That is $374 billion that cannot be used to reduce the national debt and interest on that debt. If interest payments were not so large, we would have a chance to deal with our other priorities: Social Security, a Medicare prescription drug program, education, or our veterans' programs. Speaking of veterans, the cost of this bill will be more than three times as large as the VA budget.”