Sam Brownback

Last week when we put forward this notion of doing away with the marriage penalty, one of my Democrat colleagues said, ``I would be willing to do that if you offset it by doing away with the marriage bonus.'' He raised the question of the…

I am simply saying, before we give the legislature its money, let's give some American families their money back in a small tax cut. Actually, I think we could do far better than this, but a tax cut that they should have. The irony of that…

My point in making that is to say we have a real situation here, well known, extraordinarily documented, and we have the ability to pay for it. And before we pay ourselves in the legislative branch bill, let's pay the American families a…

Have we voted on any tax cuts yet for the American public? We have voted on a lot of tax increases. I think it is time we start saying it is time to give the people back a little bit of money. I would like to see married couples get it…

And, obviously, then the reason I am not getting a vote on the tax penalty is your objection to this.

In order to be able to eliminate the marriage penalty, there are different ways people have configured and looked at this issue. The bill we are putting forward has a $151 billion price tag over 5 years. So you are not even talking about…

That money is indexed as to what we would actually already have budgeted. I point out to my colleague from Missouri, not only is that in excess of it, but we found a way to cut the taxes while we were in deficit. Now we are running a…

CBO has taken their budget projections now to $520 billion over the next 5 years, over half a trillion dollars in budget surplus.

Absolutely. I could not agree more with the notion that there are things that ought to be taken into consideration here. And the notion of a bonus in marriages is not an accurate notion here. I was willing to let my colleague from Kentucky…

That is actually what happens and takes place, which is--just think about it. That is the signal that we are sending to the American public, that they actually are encouraged to do something like this by the tax policy of the U.S…

It is strange, but actually if you look at our tax policy, people would be paid to be able to--if they do get a divorce and live separately, they would actually have more money coming to them and less going to the Federal Treasury, which…

I am not interested in raising taxes at the point in time of the American public is----

I will not be voting with you on it because I just am not interested in taxing marriages more.

A community in Kansas called Colwich receives their drinking water from private wells. When the county tested a sampling of the wells in this community they discovered that 81 percent of the wells are poorly constructed, 75 percent are…

I think the number of people who have spoken on the floor about the issue of food and that it should never, ever be used as a political weapon or tool in foreign policy, speaks clearly with the mind of the Senate that it doesn't work. Food…

I wish to simply respond to the statements of the Senator from Michigan and the Senator from Massachusetts. They are simply not true. We have the June 5 case taking place at the Navy train facility, a court-martial because of…

I plead with my colleagues to really consider this. I ask them really just one small, simple favor: Will they call their constituent services' offices to see how many recruits they have been contacted by back home during this past year…

Mr. President, my amendment is common sense. It simply requires separate barracks for male and female recruits during basic training. Further, the amendment protects the privacy of recruits by limiting access to barracks after hours to…

I think at this critical juncture we have to act even more decisively than what we are doing with this resolution... We have to do everything we can today to try to encourage the Pakistanis not to respond in kind.

I think this is an important, quick statement for us to be making to the Government of India and to the nations in the region, both Pakistan and China in particular. The nuclear test that took place yesterday will have a tremendously…

I guess the rationale of the Senator from North Dakota is we are stuck with this Tax Code forever and that is the way it will be. Frankly, there are a lot of different ideas floating around. I heard the Senator from North Dakota has a tax…

The intent behind this amendment is to ensure that in instances specified in the amendment, a forum can be created for local public dialogue with the Surface Transportation Board. Finally, I would add that we have worked with Senators from…

This amendment does not seek to encroach in any way, shape, or form, abandonment procedures established under the Interstate Commerce Act. Those procedures are entirely within the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board and the…

You are correct. The amendment will not affect any corridor for which a certificate or notice of interim trail use has been issued by the Surface Transportation Board prior to the date of enactment of this law.

I have really struggled with this vote. I find this a very difficult issue, not because I support quotas or because I believe racial set-asides will help bring about racial reconciliation, which is really my point of view and my difficulty…