John Kerry: “as we near completion of debate over this tax bill, I want to commend the Chairman of Finance Committee, Senator…”

“as we near completion of debate over this tax bill, I want to commend the Chairman of Finance Committee, Senator Grassley, and the Ranking Democrat, Senator Baucus, for their good faith efforts to craft a tax bill and move it through the Finance Committee, that is no easy task, and I have enormous respect for their hard work and the extent to which they each listened to members from both sides of the aisle. I am particularly grateful to see that the Finance Committee included a proposal advocated by myself, Senator Snowe, and Senator Lincoln which would extend the child tax credit to perhaps as many as an additional 16 million children. The legislation's new child credit refundability provision amounts to nearly $70 billion in expanded relief for working families with children. That is truly an accomplishment. Nevertheless, today we are considering more than a tax bill--and much more than a number of individual tax pieces. What we do here has consequence. Nothing happens in a policy vacuum, nothing happens that doesn't affect everything else we do for this economy, the choices we can and can not make for this country. This is more than just a tax bill. It is a blueprint for the next several years, and, as such, I am sorry to say it is a blueprint that jeopardizes the fiscal discipline that has been the foundation of the long-term economic growth our country has enjoyed in recent years.”