Political Quotes

“I have just a couple of points to make about this extender bill. First, my congratulations to our revered chairman of the Finance Committee, who brought all sides together in a consensus bill that accomplishes our objective--extend expiring provisions that command support from all Senators. This was not a simple task. Tax extenders were part of the large tax bill that began working its way through the Congress in July--a bill that in my view needed to be and was vetoed. This fall, Senator Roth returned to the task and presented a chairman's mark focused on extenders. He built bipartisan support for the bill, and that is why we are here on the Senate floor so soon, ready to pass the legislation by unanimous consent. This bill is a paid-for extenders package. As such, it meets the standards of Members on both sides of the aisle. It is a bill that can pass this Congress and can be signed by the President. And it is important that we pass legislation that can be signed. If we do not, approximately 1.1 million Americans will find out that they will lose part or all of the $500 child credit or the HOPE scholarship credit when they sit down to complete their 1999 tax return. That is because these credits have not yet been permanently exempted from what we call the alternative minimum tax. This legislation will exempt these credits from the alternative minimum tax for 1999 and 2000. The American people ask us to be responsible in managing our tax laws.”