Herb Kohl: “last night, after months of political posturing, the Senate voted to prevent a massive tax burden from falling on 21…”

“last night, after months of political posturing, the Senate voted to prevent a massive tax burden from falling on 21 million Americans. Without last night's action, millions of middle-class Americans would have been impacted by the alternative minimum tax, a tax meant to impact only the wealthiest individuals. And while I believe the legislation we passed was not perfect, I would have preferred that we adhere to the pay-go rules that I voted for--it was a compromise I supported. I must express my disappointment at what it took to get us here. There was no disagreement over whether we should prevent middle-class families from being hit by the AMT. So why would it take months to get this legislation passed? Sadly, the debate surrounded whether or not we should pass the burden of paying for this fix onto the next generation. Republicans wanted to borrow money to pay for this tax cut, while Democrats argued that we should be more responsible and not leave our children with the bill. In addition to not offsetting the cost of the AMT fix, the Senate failed to pass a tax extenders package. In October, the House passed fully offset legislation that would both fix the AMT and extend certain tax provisions that will expire at the end of the year. These provisions--such as the research and development credit, the tuition deduction, and the deduction for teachers' classroom expenses--are vital to millions of Americans.”