On the recordJuly 25, 2012
I wish to thank my friend from California for her kindness and for her graciousness in allowing me this little bit of time to make final remarks with regard to this bill that Senator McConnell and I have filed. We are going to be taking two votes on a critical issue in a few moments. Action on the fiscal cliff is long overdue. Before we vote, I would like to make three points. First, it has been suggested that the Hatch-McConnell bill fails to extend the earned-income tax credit and child tax credit provisions. This is utterly false. The Hatch-McConnell bill extends these provisions as they were originally agreed to in 2001, and that agreement actually doubled the child tax credit. Democrats are complaining that our bill does not extend the stimulus provisions that expanded these provisions even further and made them more refundable. Democrats sold the stimulus bill as being ``timely, temporary, and targeted.'' Now they are holding up tax relief for nearly every income taxpayer unless these stimulus provisions that are mostly spending through the Tax Code are extended yet again. Second, the Democratic proposal includes a significant increase in the death tax. The number of death tax filers will increase under their bill by 11 times. This is what they are proposing: 98,300 new filers will now have to fill out estate tax forms, get appraisals, deals with the IRS, and get all this done within 9 months of the death of a loved one.…
