Charles Rangel: “This is an extraordinary time for those of us in the Congress, because a constitutional change is taking place that…”

“This is an extraordinary time for those of us in the Congress, because a constitutional change is taking place that never was expected, and that is where the minority in the Senate can actually dictate to the House of Representatives exactly what they will and what they won't do. And so the whole question of whether or not the fiscal responsibility of supporting revenues for this bill is even going to be considered is something that we cannot expect the Senate ever to respond to because they need 60 votes in order to fulfill their Senate responsibility. So what do we have on the floor today? We have the principle that most Republicans as well as Democrats have agreed to in the past, and that is that the time has come for us to be fiscally responsible. Now, when the Congressional Budget Office has an item in this budget and it is called the alternative minimum tax and they put in that budget a receipt of $50 billion, it means to me and should mean to others that if you are going to delete that provision, you are deleting the $50 billion. And in order for the books to be balanced, as any family, any corporation, and I hope most intelligent and motivated countries, you raise the revenue to pay for it. So this is not happening.”