Don Nickles: “I look at my colleague's amendment, and he says for health care we will make it a tax credit. That means it is more…”

“I look at my colleague's amendment, and he says for health care we will make it a tax credit. That means it is more valuable than wages; that means it is more valuable than any other expenditure for an employer. We passed several tax provisions to encourage employers and individuals to buy health care. We passed that with the Patients' Bill of Rights. We passed it with minimum wage. The amendment of my colleague from Illinois, in my opinion, is misdirected and very expensive. We have not had a hearing in the Finance Committee. I think it happens to be bad policy. It says for this type of expenditure, it is more important than any other that an employer would make. I make a budget point of order under section 305 that it is in violation of the Budget Act.”