Doug Bereuter: “it is unfortunate, but H.R. 1308 is a new $82 billion tax cut package that simply is too large. The House-passed version…”

“it is unfortunate, but H.R. 1308 is a new $82 billion tax cut package that simply is too large. The House-passed version of H.R. 1308 will add to the already unprecedented national debt that future generations will face. Apparently, the Senate last week initially considered a proposal similar to the House-passed version of H.R. 1380 during its negotiations on child tax credit legislation, but the Senate rejected this proposal out of hand because of the effect it would have in worsening the deficit. Furthermore, while the focus of debate has been on the extension of the child tax credit, only a tiny fraction, about 4 percent, of the $82 billion tax cut amount--$3.5 billion--goes toward extending the child tax credit for the estimated 12 million children who were left out of the previously enacted tax cut legislation. It is also unfortunate that over two-thirds of the House-passed version for child tax credit benefits will go to many higher-income families through an increase in the income level from $110,000 to $150,000 at which the child tax credit begins to phase down for married families.”