Roy Blunt: “let me first of all join my colleague from Indiana in expressing my concern about where we are on taxes and spending and…”

“let me first of all join my colleague from Indiana in expressing my concern about where we are on taxes and spending and my hope that we get somewhere and get somewhere quickly. We have certainly brought this down to the last moment. For months, many people on this floor talked about the importance of certainty as it relates to our economy moving forward, of certainty as it relates to family farms and small businesses and whether they can stay in the next generation of that family. So I hope we can achieve those things in the next coming hours as we finish this day and whatever it takes to create that level of certainty at the highest possible levels. How it impacts American individuals and families will be important. The kinds of things we are hearing about the agreement--that we might be able to go forward generally--sound as though, for most Americans, they will solve problems that have been out there now for decades. Temporary tax policies--even tax policies that last for a decade, particularly when they relate to things such as the inheritance tax or the death tax--create problems that can be solved by just simply driving that place in the Tax Code and saying: This is what our policies are going to look like, and here is why they make sense for the American people. And hopefully we get there. (The remarks of Mr. Blunt and Ms. Landrieu are printed in today's Record under ``Submitted Resolutions.'') The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.…”