Don Nickles: “He says the cost of this provision in 5 years is estimated at $8.7 billion, and over 10 years, $18.4 billion. That is a…”

“He says the cost of this provision in 5 years is estimated at $8.7 billion, and over 10 years, $18.4 billion. That is a lot of money. We are going to say companies get a 40-percent tax credit if they do something in the realm of safety, which one could almost drive a truck through anything and call it safety. I am not a big fan of tax credits anyway, but that is beside the point. This is a very expensive provision, one, in my opinion, that has not been well thought out, one that is enormously expensive, one that is not paid for. A week before last, we had votes saying we should be paying for these new spending proposals and tax cuts. Well, this is a big tax cut that is not paid for. Frankly, it is a big loophole that is not paid for. It also causes other little constitutional problems. We have a Constitution that says all revenue measures have to originate in the House. We do not have a tax bill before us. This did not originate in the House of Representatives. I know my colleagues very well in the House. I respect them and I know they will blue-slip this if this amendment is passed because this would turn this into a tax bill. So this amendment would kill this bill. Our colleagues in the House want to pass the bill as it is. I hope that a majority in the Senate want to pass the bill as it is. As it is, this amendment does a couple of things.…”