Herb Kohl: “I rise in opposition to the Ashcroft amendment on marriage penalty tax relief. Let me quickly point out that I strongly…”

“I rise in opposition to the Ashcroft amendment on marriage penalty tax relief. Let me quickly point out that I strongly support the Senator from Kansas' intentions and believe that most, if not all, of my Senate colleagues do as well. Americans should be free to marry or remain single based on much more important considerations than those related to tax liability. That said, the Treasury-General Government appropriations bill is not the proper context for the marriage penalty debate. Now is simply not the right time or place. The Senate voted in favor of marriage tax relief during debate on the tobacco bill. And we all look forward to resuming this debate if and when we are able to take up, and it's my hope that we do take up, a comprehensive tax relief measure later this year. The marriage tax relief issue should be debated at that time, in the context of our overall budget priorities. Simply put, we've come too far in our efforts to enforce fiscal discipline to change course now and arbitrarily adopt major and expensive tax policy measures on appropriations bills. I will oppose the Ashcroft amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same.”