Sam Brownback: “we have had some good discussions here. Looking at the overall tax cut bill that we have, which I think is very…”

“we have had some good discussions here. Looking at the overall tax cut bill that we have, which I think is very important that we do, I am congratulatory toward the chairman. I chair the District of Columbia Subcommittee. We have really been looking strong at what we need to do in the District of Columbia to make us a shining city. The chairman has done an extraordinary job of including things like zeroing out capital gains on real property in the District of Columbia, something I think we ought to look at nationwide, but let us try it here first. We also have in there a provision for new homeowners and new home buyers, a $5,000 tax credit provision in there for new home buyers in the District of Columbia to attract people back to Washington, DC, to make it a shining city. Unfortunately, there is one other provision, section 602, in the bill that creates an economic development corporation--requires the creation of an economic development corporation--in order to access some of the tax credits. I have great difficulty with this entity. It is something that would have to be created by the District of Columbia Committee. It is an entity that would have condemnation authority. It is an entity that would have a broad base of authority, appointed by the President. It is in effect going to be a department of commerce for the District of Columbia with a lot more authority and a lot more power.”