Jeff Bingaman: “I come to the floor to urge my colleagues to vote to proceed to this important legislation. I was disappointed to see…”

“I come to the floor to urge my colleagues to vote to proceed to this important legislation. I was disappointed to see many of my Republican colleagues voted against allowing debate and amendment on this legislation. I have heard Senators from both sides of the aisle acknowledge the need to prevent the July 1 rate increase on the Stafford loans, the subsidized loans. So it is difficult to understand their unwillingness to even consider the bill and have a thoughtful debate and an opportunity for amendment which will allow us to keep these interest rates low for college students in all of our States. Members may disagree about the best way to pay for keeping the rates at 3.4 percent, but we need to go ahead and proceed to the legislation and pass legislation to accomplish this. If Senators have different proposals, they can offer them. But by blocking debate, we, obviously, cannot get to a solution of this problem. The Democrats have proposed to pay for the legislation by closing a tax loophole that people use to avoid paying Social Security and Medicare taxes. That is the so-called S corporation payroll tax loophole. This proposal would close the loophole for S corporations for which 75 percent of the corporation's income is attributable to the services of three or fewer shareholders.…”