Russ Feingold: “this conference report is evidence of a missed opportunity. It is, in fact, yet another in what is becoming a series of…”

“this conference report is evidence of a missed opportunity. It is, in fact, yet another in what is becoming a series of missed opportunities. Today, the majority is missing the opportunity to enact marriage penalty relief. The majority is missing that opportunity by insisting on its poorly-targeted, expensive tax breaks. It is missing that opportunity by rejecting the better-targeted, more responsible Democratic alternative. And it is missing that opportunity by rejecting President Clinton's offer to enact both marriage penalty relief and prescription drug benefits. Everyone in this chamber wants marriage penalty relief. The question now is how we transform that wish into law. By presenting the Senate with this conference report, the majority shows that it would rather have marriage penalty relief next year than this year. For now, they appear to prefer an old issue to a new law. The majority continues today to pass poorly-targeted, expensive tax breaks. Earlier this week, the Treasury Department released a study that analyzed all the major tax cuts that the majority has passed in this Congress this year to date. That study found that more than three-fourths of the benefits of the Republican tax bills would go to the best-off fifth of the population-- those making more than $82,000.…”