On the recordDecember 20, 2012
Let's review real quick here for everybody. We have a fiscal cliff occurring at the beginning of next year--12 short days. That means taxes go up for everybody who pay taxes and across-the-board spending cuts. The Democrat alternative, the Levin bill, was rejected on a bipartisan basis earlier this year. Our preferable bill has been rejected in the Senate. The Speaker and the President have been talking, but the President hasn't been serious. Not a dollar for cuts and a dollar for revenue. Today is an attempt to try to save most Americans, Mr. Speaker--99.8 percent of Americans--from seeing their taxes go up. Three-quarter of a million small business owners will see their taxes go up if this plan isn't passed versus the Levin bill. Those three-quarter of a million small business owners employ many, many tens of thousands of people in America who are the middle class. The bill before us is a comprehensive bill. Mr. Speaker, it gives us certainty. In the Ways and Means Committee we've heard testimony after testimony from business owners, Give us certainty. The Democrat alternative is a year. It's not even comprehensive. It doesn't even include the estate tax. We'll be right back here again December of next year for the 1-year patch. This gives us certainty. This gives employers certainty. This gives jobs creators certainty. It gives Americans who pay the alternative minimum tax certainty that they won't ever pay it again. Mr.…
