Pete Sessions: “I want to close on behalf of the Republican Party today and thank my colleagues for their vigorous debate on behalf of…”

“I want to close on behalf of the Republican Party today and thank my colleagues for their vigorous debate on behalf of an issue that is important to seniors in our country. I am always amazed to see that the party that put the tax on people, on senior citizens of this country, is now trying to defend that tax and say, well, they have to make sure that they have this money so that we do not go into deficit spending. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, there will be two bills that will be voted on today: one which is the substitute which was described by the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy), which is an opportunity to have every single Member of this House of Representatives vote today. Then there will be a second bill, the real bill, the one that does the right thing, the one that is the very same or similar that was just passed in the Senate, where Senator Feinstein, Senator Conrad, Senator Dorgan, and Senator Johnson all voted this last week on the Republican plan, a plan that does the real thing, the plan that says that the average tax of $1,180 that is paid this year, that is going to grow to $1,359 for the average senior citizen in the year 2010, is simply wrong. We believe it is wrong for people to be taxed at an 85 percent rate for income above $34,000 for senior citizens and $44,000 for couples.”