Max Baucus: “shortly, we will complete legislative business and adjourn for the year. Senators will leave to spend the holidays with…”

“shortly, we will complete legislative business and adjourn for the year. Senators will leave to spend the holidays with our families. Senators will travel to the comfort of our homes. But there are still those in the gulf region who do not have homes. Hurricane Katrina struck almost 4 months ago. We cannot, in good conscience, conclude our action for the year without passing tax relief for the gulf region. The legislation before us today is a good bill. We must pass it today. In September, I was pleased that Congress could come together and quickly pass emergency tax relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Prior to passing that legislation, I promised that I would work with my colleagues to draft a long-term tax relief package. And that is what we did. We worked to create legislation that would help rebuild homes and businesses. We worked to create legislation that would pump money into local economies. And we worked to create legislation that would help distressed working families. We must come together again. We must pass this legislation today. On November 18th, the Senate passed the tax reconciliation bill. We included Hurricane tax relief. We included Alternative Minimum Tax relief. And we included more than a dozen important tax provisions that expire on December 31st, including the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and the Research and Development Tax Credit.…”