Rob Portman: “I also commend the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Archer) for moving it through the Committee on Ways and Means. Let me…”

“I also commend the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Archer) for moving it through the Committee on Ways and Means. Let me just start by saying that we have a non-Social Security budget surplus projected that is over $2 trillion. The marriage penalty we are talking about today is about one dime out of the dollar of that non-Social Security budget surplus. To say that we cannot take care of paying down the debt, to say that we cannot take care of Social Security and Medicare in that context is just not right. We can. We can do that, and we can take care of this unfairness in the Tax Code. This is a good bill because 25 million couples out there pay, on average, about $1,400 on average more than people who are in their situation but not married. That is just unfair. That may not be much money by Washington standards; but in my district, that is a lot of money. That means about 63,000 couples in the second district of Ohio have more money to save for their own retirement, more money to save for their kids' education, more money to make a down payment on a car or a home. Frankly, it is just not fair. This is their money. This part of the code has to be changed.”