Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it is telling and it is also disappointing that the Senate earlier today rejected the Thune alternative, which I cosponsored. The reason I say it is telling and disappointing is because the Senator from South Dakota offered us an option to extend many of these expiring tax provisions, but it would not have enacted punitive, economically destructive tax increases--things such as the enterprise value tax and the tax on carried interest. The option offered to us by Mr. Thune, the Senator from South Dakota, would have continued important expiring tax provisions, including the State and local tax deduction, which I must add provides Texans with over $1 billion in Federal tax relief annually. That is because we do not have a State income tax, and we are proud of it. That is one reason why we continue to grow and create jobs while many other parts of the country do not fare as well. But this at least provides equity to us by allowing people in Texas who pay sales tax to write that off of their Federal income tax, as other States do when they pay a State income tax, to write it off their Federal income tax. But instead of increasing the budget deficit by $55 billion--which this bill does, as it currently has been offered--the option offered by the Senator from South Dakota would have reduced the deficit--reduced the deficit--by $68 billion and extended the expired tax provisions.…”