Ben Cardin: “I always enjoy my distinguished chairman comparing the records of the Democrats and Republicans on major issues. Let me…”

“I always enjoy my distinguished chairman comparing the records of the Democrats and Republicans on major issues. Let me try to complete that a little bit more, if I might. It was the Democratic administration under President Clinton that brought our budget into balance, and it was the Republican administration that undid all of that good work. Mr. Speaker, the Democrats support responsible tax legislation. The tax provisions in this legislation are well-targeted to extend important tax provisions that help most Americans and help our economy. But there are two glaring flaws in the bill before us. The gentleman from California (Mr. Stark) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) have already talked about the limited impact on low-wage families, particularly on military families. We did not do what was right as it related to the child credit for those groups of people. It certainly was not treated with equity as to what we did with the other provisions on extensions. The second major flaw is that bill adds $150 billion to our national debt, on top of the $422 billion deficit we have in this one year.”