Earl Blumenauer: “I listen to my friend from Washington repeating the same lame line from the talking points of my Republican friends.…”

“I listen to my friend from Washington repeating the same lame line from the talking points of my Republican friends. They knew this was coming. Yes, President Clinton vetoed a flawed tax measure back in the previous administration. What have they been doing for the last 6 years when they controlled everything? They decided not to deal with the alternative minimum tax. They made a cynical decision to cut taxes for those who are the most fortunate in this country and be able to use this money in the budget calculations to be able to justify these massive tax reductions. They spent this money and they count on spending this money for years to come. It is in President Bush's budget. We reject that cynical effort. We implored them time and time again when they were having their tax reductions to deal with the alternative minimum tax, this fiscal tsunami that is going to sweep away middle and upper middle-income Americans. They refused. They bet on the other side. Now we are coming forward not with a tax increase but with a tax adjustment. The Federal Government will get the same amount of money; it is who are you going to benefit. We are going to save 23 million Americans from paying the alternative minimum tax, making some reasonable tax adjustments and not putting the cost of this patch on the credit card of our children.”