[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 79 (Monday, June 2, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7189-S7190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. LINCOLN (for herself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Warner, Mr. 
        Rockefeller, Ms. Collins, Mr. Reed, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Bingaman, 
        Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Pryor, 
        Mr. Breaux, Mr. Edwards, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Durbin, 
        Mr. Lieberman, and Mr. Reid):
  S. 1162. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
accelerate the increase in the refundability of the child tax credit, 
and for other purposes; read the first time.
  Mrs. LINCOLN. M. President, I am proud to introduce today the Working 
Taxpayer Fairness Restoration Act. I offer this bill on behalf of the 
nearly 12 million children who were left behind when President Bush 
signed the 2003 tax bill.
  The bill that I am introducing, with many of my good friends, 
including Senators Snowe, Warner and Jeffords, will restore a provision 
left on the cutting-room floor when House and Senate leaders finalized 
the conference report on the tax cut. Our bill will restore the 
advanced refundability of the child tax credit.
  My friend from Maine and I have worked since 2001 to ensure that all 
working families benefit from the child tax credit. We worked to ensure 
in the 2001 tax cut that the child tax credit was refundable. During 
Finance Committee deliberations on this year's tax bill, I successfully 
offered an amendment that would have advanced the refundability of the 
child tax credit. Regrettably, that provision was dropped in 
conference.
  Unless we pass the bill that I am introducing today, families with 
incomes between $10,500 and $26,625 will not get the $400 checks that 
will be mailed in July as part of the 2003 tax bill. Since nearly half 
the taxpayers in Arkansas have adjusted gross incomes less than 
$20,000, Arkansas families are among the hardest hit by this omission 
in the new tax law.
  Consider this: The base pay for a private in the military is just 
under $16,000 per year. The average Arkansas firefighter makes between 
$22,000 and $25,000 a year. Many of those enlisted men, who could be 
given a few days' notice before being shipped off to war, and those 
firefighters, who could get no more than a few minutes' notice before 
rushing into a terrorist attack, have families. They work hard to 
support their families and to protect us. Yet they got left out when 
negotiators shook hands over the final tax bill.
  I wasn't in the room during those negotiations in the dark of night, 
and I understand that very few of my colleagues were. But we are here 
today, united in our effort to fight for these working families.
  Advancing the refundable portion of the child credit to cover these 
families will cost only $3.5 billion--just 1 percent of the entire cost 
of the tax cut. This measure had strong bipartisan support in the 
Senate, and I was proud to play a leading role to expand the children 
tax credit in the Senate bill. I'm glad to have bipartisan support in 
my effort today to restore this provision.
  We will pay for this tax relief for working families by shutting down 
some Enron-related tax shelters. This pay-for was included in the 
Senate version of the 2003 tax bill, so it has already received the 
blessing of a majority of the Senate.
  Especially as our nation contends with a sluggish economy, we should 
ensure that everyone benefits from the tax cut. After all, buying blue 
jeans for schoolchildren, washing powder for the laundry or tires for 
the car costs just as much for a family making $20,000 a year as it 
does for a family making $100,000. If we want to get our economy back 
on track, we need to make sure that we're putting money into the 
pockets of consumers who will spend it.
  This isn't about partisanship--as is evidenced by the cosponsors of 
this bill--it is about doing what's right for

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families who may need a little extra help. We should fix this problem 
immediately. Let's make these families a priority now.
                                 ______