Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, we have had a lot of interesting arguments on the other side of the aisle. I would note that every one of them tries to distract from the issue that is before us today. The issue that is before us today is do we permanently eliminate the marriage tax penalty for 42 million married working couples who benefit from the Bush tax cut. Unfortunately because of a rule in the Senate, it had to be temporary. We have often asked in this House of Representatives whether or not it is right, it is fair, to punish a married working couple where the husband and wife are both in the workforce, that we should punish them with higher taxes just because they are married. In the House this year, we have passed legislation to permanently eliminate the marriage tax penalty. I would note that 271 Members of this House, a bipartisan majority, voted to eliminate the marriage tax penalty. Even those who all spoke against this, I would note, all voted 'no' on eliminating the marriage tax penalty, so it is understandable why they would continue to oppose eliminating the marriage tax penalty, that there were still 60 Democrats who joined with us. They saw the merit in making the Tax Code neutral when it comes to marriage, so that a married working couple does not pay $1,700 more on average just because they are married.”