Chuck Schumer: “this is a simple amendment. We have had two worries mainly about this tax bill. One is that the dollars go too much to…”

“this is a simple amendment. We have had two worries mainly about this tax bill. One is that the dollars go too much to the wealthiest people and not enough to the middle class, and we have had a lot of amendments thereon. The second is that it breaks fiscal discipline. This amendment deals with that second category. What is missing in this tax bill bothers me as much as what is in it, maybe more. We do not do any of the tax extenders which we know we will do later this year. We do not change the alternative minimum tax hardly at all, which will catch 39 million people by the time this 10-year bill is finished. This amendment includes both of those so we do not have to come back and do them and break the $1.35 trillion that we said we will keep and lowers the top rate to make room for those. It is a fiscally responsible amendment. I would challenge anyone who wants to vote against it to make a pledge that they will not vote at a later time outside the budget cap for these two issues.”