On the recordMarch 3, 2011
Thank you. Madam Speaker, as we all know here, we have a special rule in the House. As I just referenced, it is clause 5(b) of rule XXI, which was put into the rules of the House to make it extraordinarily difficult for us to change tax rates. The reason we did that was out of a bipartisan consideration that we wanted to make sure that legislation we did here didn't have the effect, under the ruse of some other action, of changing effective tax rates for people. So this rule was put into place which said, if you're going to do that, you need to have a three-fifths majority. This bill that we are considering now is, by its action, changing people's effective tax rates. I'll try to be brief. It's just that I know many Members hadn't been tuned into the debate, and I want to explain this point. What the bill would do if it were to be passed would be to say, if someone had a marginal increase in their income that took them up into the next bracket, they would lose, not only the subsidy provided under the health care act to buy insurance, but in its entirety a $200 increase above the bracket would essentially put them into a different tax bracket. This is exactly what this rule was intended to prevent-- our taking an action that unwittingly changes where people's tax rates are without our actually having to stand up and do it. This rule puts a pretty strong level of test into place for us. It says we need a three-fifths majority.
