Political Quotes

“I'll keep my remarks brief and submit the bulk of my remarks for the Record where they contain economic analysis and no theology, so they may be out of place in this floor debate. It's been fascinating to listen to the lecture that we've heard about failure. The failure that is on display here is the failure of this majority to fix the AMT as they promised or even to patch it in a timely fashion. We are voting today on a bill that we should have voted on 4 to 6 months ago and easily could have, and the blame here, if there is to be any blame, is on the other side for having passed a budget that was built on quicksand, that was balanced based on revenues from applying the AMT to 23 million mainly middle-class families. And every one of them that voted for it voted to do it. They took PAYGO and they made a burlesque of it. What they have been doing up until this point is trying frantically to hold the AMT crisis that they created as a hostage in order to drive higher taxes. They've been using the AMT issue as a locomotive for a tax increase that is unnecessary and is inappropriate, particularly if, as the majority leader feels, the economy might be slowing down. They have been single-minded in their approach to try to drive higher taxes. Today, we have an opportunity to protect the taxpayers without a tax increase. Let's take it. Madam Speaker, since coming to Congress, I have been a vocal champion for repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax.”