Roy Blunt: “the truth is that this $50 billion that we're now prohibiting being collected from 23 million new American families next…”

“the truth is that this $50 billion that we're now prohibiting being collected from 23 million new American families next year isn't our money. It's their money. It's not money that we have this year. Now, it's money that we said at the first of this year we never want to collect from these families, but then we decided we immediately wanted to go right ahead and spend it. That's the real fallacy here. Whether the White House makes that mistake or the legislature makes that mistake, we have no right to this money. As my good friend from Massachusetts said, Republicans oppose raising taxes. Now, because of that, our friends on the other side kept putting this issue off, and because of that, when it comes time for Americans who aren't impacted by the alternative minimum tax at all to get a refund, their refund is going to be slowed up. This should have been done 6 months ago. But we are getting it done today. We need to move forward in a way that doesn't let this continue to be a pattern. This tax was put in place in 1969. Unfortunately, it's still affecting the same families that were affected in 1969. But no modification for inflation. No forward thinking. It was made worse in 1993. Republicans in the House, and some Democrats, voted to repeal this tax in 1999. And that's the best answer. We need to get on to how we eliminate this unfair tax. It doesn't do what it's supposed to do. And we have no claim on this money.”