On the recordJune 30, 2011
we are involved in a very important national debate about our finances, our deficits, our debt, investments in our economy, including the creation of jobs, and how we take on those problems in the most effective manner to build a strong financial foundation for our Nation going ahead and a strong set of opportunities for families to thrive. In the course of this debate, there has been a very interesting development that merits our attention, and that development is this: Some of my colleagues across the aisle have, over time, chosen to put key programs for the wealthy and well connected not in an appropriations bill but in tax legislation. There are advantages to doing so. With appropriations, programs have to be defended year after year. It has to be reviewed in committee. It may have to go through an authorization process as well as an appropriations process. But if a program for the wealthy and well connected is placed in the Tax Code, then, unless a sunset clause has been instituted, that program is a gift that keeps on giving, unexamined in the course of the standard appropriating process. By putting these programs for the wealthy and well connected into the Tax Code, some of my colleagues across the aisle have said that as a result, there is an additional advantage.…





