[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 58 (Friday, May 12, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E821-E822]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4297, TAX INCREASE PREVENTION AND 
                       RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 10, 2006

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my 
opposition to the conference report on H.R. 4297, the FY06 tax 
reconciliation bill.
  As I stated in December 2005, when I voted against the House tax 
reconciliation bill, I do not oppose tax cuts, and in a more stable 
fiscal climate I would support reduced tax rates for capital gains and 
dividend income. What I do oppose is borrowing money to pay for tax 
cuts, particularly for tax cuts that do not expire for another 3 years. 
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the conference report 
before us today would cost approximately $91 billion over the next 10 
years, and would raise taxes by approximately $22 billion over the same 
period. Considering the state of our current fiscal situation, this 
conference report would do more harm than good at this time.
  In 2001, I was one of only 28 House Democrats to vote for President 
Bush's 2001 tax cuts that reduced marginal income tax rates. Since 
2001, however, our country's fiscal condition has dramatically reversed 
course. In 2001, the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] predicted that 
the 10-year budget surplus would be $5.6 trillion. That projected 10-
year surplus of $5.6 trillion has deteriorated into a projected $3.9 
trillion deficit during the same period. In FY 2005, the Federal 
Government ran a budget deficit of $319 billion, the third largest 
deficit in our Nation's history.
  Further, on February 17, 2004, the national debt of the United States 
exceeded $7 trillion for the first time in our Nation's history. On 
October 21, 2005, the national debt of the United States exceeded $8 
trillion for the first time in our Nation's history. That is an 
increase of $1 trillion in our national debt over the last 2 years. It 
took our country 193 years, from 1787 to 1980, to accumulate an 
additional $1 trillion in debt.
  Unfortunately, our national debt is only getting worse. When I voted 
against the House tax reconciliation bill in December, our national 
debt was $8.1 trillion. Today, our national debt is $8.4 trillion, an 
increase of $300 billion in only 5 months. An $8.4 trillion national 
debt comes down to approximately $28,000 per person in our country. 
That is simply unacceptable.
  Mr. Speaker, the conference report on H.R. 4297 extends several tax 
cut measures, including reduced rates for capital gains and dividend 
income and relief from the alternative minimum tax, that I support and 
would vote for in a balanced, revenue neutral measure. I would also 
support several provisions, including the above-the-line deduction for 
higher education and classroom expenses and the research and 
development credit, that were included in the House tax reconciliation 
bill and are not included in this conference report. I hope that 
extensions of these provisions in the tax code will be included in a 
future tax measure this year.
  Further, while the conference report includes multiyear extensions of 
lowered capital gains and dividend tax rates, it includes only a one-
year extension of relief from the alternative minimum tax [AMT]. I 
strongly support AMT relief, and voted for H.R. 4096, the Stealth Tax 
Relief Act, on December 7, 2005, which extended AMT relief and indexed 
it for inflation. The AMT is the most significant looming tax concern 
for middle-class American families; if AMT relief is allowed to lapse, 
the number of taxpayers subject to the AMT will increase from 3 million 
in 2004 to 21 million this year. The Congressional Budget Office 
estimates that extending AMT relief and indexing it for inflation would 
reduce Federal revenue by $191 billion over the next 5 years. This is 
an immediate problem that Congress and the administration need to work 
together to fix in a responsible, bipartisan, and long-term manner, 
before millions of Americans are hit with large, unexpected tax 
increases.
  Mr. Speaker, I will continue to work with my colleagues in both 
parties to advance commonsense, bipartisan approaches to solving

[[Page E822]]

our country's fiscal problems. I urge my colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle to act as soon as possible, in a fiscally sound way, to 
prevent serious consequences for current and future generations.

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