[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S1126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TAX EXTENDERS ACT OF 2009

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 4213, which the clerk will 
report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4213) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 to extend certain expiring provisions, and for other 
     purposes.

  Pending:

       Baucus amendment No. 3336, in the nature of a substitute.
       Sessions amendment No. 3337 (to amendment No. 3336) to 
     reduce the deficit by establishing discretionary spending 
     caps.
       Landrieu modified amendment No. 3335 (to amendment No. 
     3336) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend 
     for 2 years the low-income housing credit rules for buildings 
     in the GO Zones, and for other purposes.
       Reid (for Murray) amendment No. 3356 (to amendment No. 
     3336) to provide funding for summer employment for youth.
       Coburn amendment No. 3358 (to amendment No. 3336) to 
     require the Senate to be transparent with taxpayers about 
     spending.
       Baucus (for Webb/Boxer) amendment No. 3342 (to amendment 
     No. 3336) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
     impose an excise tax on excessive 2009 bonuses received from 
     certain major recipients of Federal emergency economic 
     assistance, to limit the deduction allowable for such 
     bonuses.
       Stabenow amendment No. 3382 (to amendment No. 3336) to 
     amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow companies to 
     utilize existing alternative minimum tax credits to create 
     and maintain American jobs through new domestic investments.
       Feingold/Coburn amendment No. 3368 (to amendment No. 3336) 
     to provide for the rescission of unused transportation 
     earmarks and to establish a general reporting requirement for 
     any unused earmarks.
       Brown (MA) amendment No. 3391 (to amendment No. 3336) to 
     provide for a 6-month employee payroll tax rate cut.
       Burr amendment No. 3389 (to amendment No. 3336) to provide 
     Federal reimbursement to State and local Governments for a 
     limited sales, use, and retailers' occupation tax holiday, 
     and to offset the cost of such reimbursements.

  Mr. BURRIS. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, we are now on our fourth day of 
consideration of this important legislation to create jobs and extend 
vital safety net and tax provisions. This legislation would prevent 
millions of Americans from falling through the safety net. It would 
extend vital programs that were extended on a short-term basis earlier 
this year. It would put cash into the hands of Americans who would 
spend it quickly, boosting economic demand. It would extend critical 
programs and tax incentives that create jobs.
  This is the legislation that will help half a million workers who 
lose their jobs nationwide to get help paying for their health 
insurance under COBRA. This is the legislation that will help nearly 40 
million Medicare beneficiaries and nearly 9 million TRICARE 
beneficiaries keep access to their doctors. This is the legislation 
that will help 400,000 Americans get unemployment insurance benefits.
  This is urgent legislation. We must enact it soon.
  We had a productive day yesterday. We disposed of six amendments and 
rejected a point of order against the bill. As I count it, there are 
about 10 amendments pending. Those amendments are the underlying 
substitute amendment, Senator Sessions' amendment to impose 
discretionary spending caps, Senator Landrieu's amendment on the GO 
Zones, Senator Murray's amendment on summer employment for youth, 
Senator Coburn's amendment on transparency, Senator Webb's amendment on 
executive bonuses, Senator Stabenow's amendment on AMT credits, a 
Feingold-Coburn amendment to rescind unused transportation earmarks, an 
amendment by Senator Brown of Massachusetts on a payroll tax holiday, 
and Senator Burr's amendment on a sales tax holiday.
  Before Senators offer additional amendments, we need to start 
processing the pending amendments. I have been advised there will be 
objection to setting aside the pending amendments for Senators to offer 
additional amendments until we have addressed some of the pending 
amendments.
  Some of the amendments appear to me to be the sort of thing we could 
adopt by voice vote, and we are exploring that possibility in 
connection with at least two of them. On amendments that require a 
rollcall vote, I am hopeful we can schedule a number of votes starting 
at 2 p.m. this afternoon to dispose of several amendments. Then we will 
continue to process the pending amendments throughout the day.
  I thank all Senators for their cooperation.

                          ____________________