Kay Bailey Hutchison: “so many of us wanted a stimulus package. The President asked for a stimulus package. We see the stock market continuing…”

“so many of us wanted a stimulus package. The President asked for a stimulus package. We see the stock market continuing to go up and down, up and down. It certainly has not stabilized yet. We wanted to try to stimulate investment to try to make sure we would have an economy that would be able to remain strong as we are prosecuting a war for the very freedom of future generations in our country. But what we had before us was not a stimulus package. It was the end of a compromise without the compromise part. There was no tax cut. There was no help for people who pay taxes. There was no stimulation for businesses that would invest in plant and equipment. And that is what we need to make sure we have those manufacturing jobs. What I had hoped to do--and I had already filed the amendment--was to make permanent some of the tax cuts that are temporary over the next 10 years. I wanted to make permanent the marriage penalty relief that is in the tax bill that Congress has already passed and the President has signed but which could teeter in the next few years if we have a change in Congress. Why should anyone have to pay a penalty because they get married? Why should they pay a different rate in a higher tax bracket when they get married as opposed to when they were single? We are trying to correct the marriage penalty. Making marriage penalty relief permanent so people can count on it would be a stimulus.”