[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 93 (Tuesday, July 18, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7103-S7104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         MARRIAGE TAX PENALTY RELIEF RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2000

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
resume consideration of H.R. 4810, which the clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4810) to provide for reconciliation pursuant 
     to section 103(a)(1) of the concurrent resolution on the 
     budget for fiscal year 2001.

  Pending:
       Burns Amendment No. 3874, to repeal the modification of the 
     installment method.
       Reid (for Hollings) Amendment No. 3875, to pay down the 
     debt by striking the tax cuts.
       Nickles (for Lott) Amendment No. 3881, to provide a 
     substitute.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will now proceed to vote in 
relation to the following amendments, with 2 minutes for explanation 
prior to each vote: Burns, Hollings, and Lott.
  The Senator from Montana.


                           Amendment No. 3874

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, the amendment that I have offered to this 
piece of legislation is a freestanding bill, S. 2005, the Installment 
Tax Collection Act of 2000.
  Basically, it allows small businesses or farms that sell their 
businesses on the installment plan to pay their capital gains taxes as 
they receive the money. Right now, they are required to pay the capital 
gains taxes in one lump sum. In other words, in some cases, when 
properties are sold, they even have to borrow the money to pay the 
capital gains up front.
  It is no cutback in revenue to the Government. We just receive the 
money whenever the owners receive their payments for their property.
  I urge adoption of this amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Is all time yielded back?
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. A voice vote would be very agreeable.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas and nays have been requested.
  Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  All time is yielded back.
  The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 3874. The clerk will 
call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Coverdell) 
is absent due to illness.--
  The result was announced--yeas 99, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 212 Leg.]

                                YEAS--99

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee, L.
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Coverdell
       
  The amendment (No. 3874) was agreed to.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. ROTH. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                           Amendment No. 3875

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the next amendment 
is Senator Hollings' amendment.
  The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, do you want to make $1 million? Do you 
want to become a millionaire? All you have to do is find the surplus 
that is in the headlines.
  This morning, USA Today said ``surplus doubles.''
  That crowd knows how to write, but they do not know how to read.
  I have the Congressional Budget Office report that they quoted. On 
page 17, the debt goes from $5.617 trillion to $6.370 trillion. The 
debt is going up. The surplus is going down.
  I thought maybe they had gotten it from the President's midyear 
review just given 2 weeks ago. Of course, you know how they mix these 
things up. The last page tells the truth. On page 23, President Clinton 
finds that the debt goes up to $1 trillion--no surplus. The debt 
increases.
  I then go to the public debt to the penny. Call up Treasury. They 
give this out every day. You find how the debt goes up.
  What they are trying to do is increase the debt with this $248 
billion.
  I am for paying down the debt.
  Vote for the amendment if you are for paying down the debt, please.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I will support the Hollings amendment to 
strike the tax cuts proposed in this legislation and devote those funds 
to reduction of the national debt.
  I supported and would prefer the Democratic proposal to eliminate the 
marriage penalty in the Tax Code. I voted for the Democratic plan and 
had it passed would not have supported the Hollings amendment. However, 
since the Democratic alternative to the pending bill was defeated 
yesterday by a 46-50 vote, and since the Republican bill would cost a 
wasteful $40 billion a year, reflecting the wrong priorities, I will 
support the Hollings amendment to better use those funds to pay down 
the national debt.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, evidently the proponent of the amendment 
does not believe any marriage tax relief is in order.
  Let me say that I find this position to be incredible. The Federal 
Government is taking a record level of the economy in revenue over 20 
percent. The Federal take has not been this high since World War II.
  Income taxes have doubled since the Clinton administration came to 
office. Clearly, it is the taxpayers--especially America's hard-working 
families--who have caused the surplus.
  This bill returns less than 3 percent of the non-Social Security 
surplus to virtually every married couple in the country. Both 
Republicans and Democrats agree that marriage tax relief is an 
appropriate use of the non-Social Security surplus. We differ on how 
the relief is delivered.
  I urge my colleagues to reject Senator Hollings' amendment.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 3875. The clerk will 
call the roll.

[[Page S7104]]

  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Coverdell) 
is absent due to illness.
  The result was announced--yeas 20, nays 79, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 213 Leg.]

                                YEAS--20

     Akaka
     Boxer
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Feingold
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lincoln
     Moynihan
     Reed
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Voinovich
     Wellstone

                                NAYS--79

     Abraham
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee, L.
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeWine
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kerrey
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reid
     Roberts
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Coverdell
       
  The amendment (No. 3875) was rejected.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. LOTT. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask consent the vote occur in relation to 
the Lott amendment notwithstanding the order for the recess of the 
Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask consent that immediately following the 
reconvening at 2:15, there be 5 minutes for the managers or their 
designees for closing remarks, to be followed immediately by a vote on 
passage of H.R. 4810.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 3881

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I do have brief remarks before the vote on 
the next amendment. Are we ready to proceed to that?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are 2 minutes for debate, equally 
divided. The majority leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the amendment we have before us will return 
to the text of the committee-reported bill. If this amendment is agreed 
to, we will then be voting on a clean marriage penalty relief bill with 
the exact text that was reported from the Finance Committee. It is a 
simple vote. It is a simple choice. Last night the Senate did accept 
some amendments on several issues that are not relevant to marriage 
penalty relief, several of them on voice vote, perhaps a couple of them 
along the way on recorded votes.
  Some of them are good amendments. We will have another opportunity to 
vote for them or have them included in other legislation. They are good 
ideas that deserve to be on another bill. This bill is about tax relief 
for married couples and about eliminating the marriage penalty when a 
couple gets married, so I urge my colleagues to support cleaning up the 
bill so we can pass a clean marriage penalty bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time? The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me explain to the body what the Lott 
amendment does. If you voted in favor of the Durbin-Bond amendment to 
give full deductibility of insurance premiums to self-employed small 
businesses and farmers, the Lott amendment eliminates that vote. If you 
voted with Senator Torricelli of New Jersey for lead screening under 
Medicaid to protect children, the Lott amendment eliminates that. If 
you voted with Senator Torricelli on special provisions in Medicare for 
those suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, the Lott amendment 
eliminates that. If you voted with Senator Burns to change business 
accounting to make it more fair to small businesses, the Lott amendment 
eliminates it.
  This is done over and over in the House of Representatives by the 
Rules Committee. It clears the deck of all the activity and progress we 
have made. It is an effort to make a tabula rasa the last amendment of 
the day. If you believe the amendments we voted for are worth standing 
behind, I urge you to vote ``no'' on the Lott amendment.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 3881. The clerk will 
call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Coverdell) 
is absent due to illness.
  The result was announced--yeas 54, nays 45, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 214 Leg.]

                                YEAS--54

     Abraham
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Campbell
     Chafee, L.
     Cochran
     Collins
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeWine
     Domenici
     Enzi
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Roberts
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Voinovich
     Warner

                                NAYS--45

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Byrd
     Cleland
     Conrad
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Mikulski
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Torricelli
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Coverdell
       
  The amendment No. (3881) was agreed to.
  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. In my capacity as a Senator from the State of 
Wyoming, I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

                          ____________________