Tom Harkin: “once the Senate amendment is laid down, I intend to offer an amendment for myself and Senators Kennedy, Kohl, and Levin…”

“once the Senate amendment is laid down, I intend to offer an amendment for myself and Senators Kennedy, Kohl, and Levin that will eliminate a very expensive pair of provisions contained in the 2001 tax bill, most of the benefits of which go to those individuals in America making over $1 million a year in income. The amendment I intend to offer would take that money and increase the benefits going to working-class families trying to cover the costs of daycare for their children or elder care for their parents. And the rest of the money would go for deficit reduction. The bill we will have before us, as soon as the Republican leader lays down the Senate amendment, will sharply increase the deficit in future years by as much as $70 billion. Again, most of the benefits, as usual, go to taxpayers making high incomes. Indeed, the House bill is even worse, with 40 percent of the benefits going to those making over $1 million per year. Forty percent of the benefits in the House-passed tax bill go to those individuals making over $1 million a year. Now, the chairman of the Finance Committee in the Senate discussed how this measure contains a 1-year extension of relief from the AMT, the alternative minimum tax. He correctly noted there are millions of people who would face a tax increase if the 1-year fix in the Senate bill is not passed. Well, it should be passed. But I believe it ought to be fully paid for.…”