Political Quotes

“Thank you, Madam President. I understand Senator Baucus is on his way from a meeting, and in the interim I will start off and recognize myself. I offer this amendment on behalf of middle-class families and on behalf of small businesses. I support repealing the 1099 reporting requirement and have, in fact, voted no less than six times on this floor to repeal 1099 in this body. However, I strongly believe we must do so in a manner that does not increase the burden on our small businesses and their employees, and that is exactly what I fear H.R. 4 does. The broad bipartisan support for 1099 repeal comes from the fact that it provides relief to small businesses, but the only problem with this version of the repeal is that while it provides relief on the one hand, it may very well take it away with the other. It repeals the 1099 reporting requirements but, at the same time, I am concerned it increases the health care burden on the very same people to whom we are seeking to provide relief. Some have argued we have already used this very same offset before. We have. Therefore, there is no reason to be concerned now. The difference is, however, H.R. 4 is very different than what we did 4 months ago, and it risks driving up health insurance costs and cutting health insurance coverage for small businesses and middle-class families. It increases tax penalties--tax penalties. As we approach April 15, I know we are all very tax sensitive.…”