Arlen Specter: “I anticipate this amendment will not require too much longer. Our final amendment in the sequence is the Ensign…”

“I anticipate this amendment will not require too much longer. Our final amendment in the sequence is the Ensign amendment. So I alert our colleagues to the fact that we should be starting on that amendment fairly soon. Senator Sessions has, I believe, 7 minutes left. Senator Kennedy and I will take just a few minutes in opposition to the amendment and then yield the remainder of the time back. Mr. President, it seems to me this is a fairly fundamental issue. We have the earned-income tax credit designed to provide tax relief for low-income families and individuals. And if you qualify for it, as a taxpayer, it seems to me, when you are obligated to pay the taxes and bear the burdens of the tax system, you ought to be entitled to the tax credit, and the fact that they are undocumented immigrants should not impose a penalty on them. We are dealing here with people of very limited means. We are dealing with people who ordinarily may--probably do--have large families. They are fighting rising costs of living and fighting to maintain their sustenance, and they are at the bottom end of the economic ladder. So if they are in line to get a modest earned-income tax credit, which, as the language says, they have earned, it is a tax credit that is an income tax credit they have earned. Just as they have to pay their taxes, they ought to get the benefits from the tax system. Therefore, I oppose the amendment. Mr. President, I yield the floor.”