John Kerry: “Let me correct one thing the Senator from Texas said. The Senator knows just a little while ago I was talking to him and…”

“Let me correct one thing the Senator from Texas said. The Senator knows just a little while ago I was talking to him and I offered him a compromise which includes the capacity to raise the level of benefit to the spouse--working mom or pop--who stays home with kids. But what the Senator is ignoring also is that under the marriage penalty, so-called, the mother who stays home, or father who stays home today and isn't working and that he wants to reward, is, in fact, already rewarded because the structure of tax is such that with a single earner and one parent staying home, they get a marriage bonus. So we have a tax structure that already rewards the very person the Senator from Texas is talking about. In addition to that, I suggested to him that we ought to be able to work out some way to augment that a little bit. I think that is reasonable. So let's not get into a notion that somehow people want to be more protective of mom and pop who want to stay home with the kids. This debate is about whether or not we are going to be able to have enough money to do the things this tobacco bill must do, which is to reduce the number of kids smoking. You never hear the Senator from Texas talk about how we are going to save lives in America. We hear him talking about saving taxes, but not saving lives. We never hear him talk about the 400,000 people a year who die because they smoke.”