Arlen Specter: “I support the amendment made by the Senator from Missouri. It is an unusual amendment in that it seeks to stop…”

“I support the amendment made by the Senator from Missouri. It is an unusual amendment in that it seeks to stop appropriations and then calls for the Committee on Finance to consider using equivalent amounts of money to make permanent the research and development tax credit. The essence of what the Senator from Missouri seeks to accomplish is to have the private sector make the determination as to what research and development there will be as opposed to having the Government make that determination. The Senator from Missouri seeks to have the private sector make that decision by holding out the inducement of a tax credit. The Senator from Missouri has been a very distinguished advocate of the market as opposed to a governmental direction of the economy. I think that is a sound principle.”