Don Nickles: “I wish to compliment Senator Roth, in his leadership, and the Finance Committee, for reporting out a good bill. It is my…”

“I wish to compliment Senator Roth, in his leadership, and the Finance Committee, for reporting out a good bill. It is my hope we will be able to pass this bill in the next couple of days to provide relief from the so-called marriage tax penalty. Married couples need relief. We need to pass it. I have heard the President say he is for it, although he has not come to the forefront. I think Senator Roth, chairman of the Finance Committee, has come up with a good proposal. I am going to talk a little about that. But I also compliment my colleague, Senator Hutchison, who has been fighting for this for the last several years. I believe this year we have a chance to make this law. I hope we will have bipartisan cooperation to make it happen. I compliment the House for their leadership in moving forward to make it happen. The President recently invited many of us down to the White House for the signing of the bill to eliminate the so-called Social Security earnings penalty tax. If you were a working senior between the ages of 65 and 70, and you had an income above $17,000, for every $3 that you earned, you would lose $1 of Social Security. We eliminated that penalty. The President signed it.”