[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 170 (Sunday, December 30, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  GETTING A DEAL DONE ON FISCAL CLIFF

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Sunday, December 30, 2012

  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on the 
importance of getting a deal done on the fiscal cliff in few hours we 
have remaining. A potential Alternative Minimum Tax patch would protect 
30 million taxpayers overall and 222,513 Texans from paying the AMT by 
raising the exemption amount.
  Way back on January 20, 2001, when President George W. Bush took over 
from President Bill Clinton, the CBO estimated the total budget surplus 
for 2002-2011 would be $5.6 trillion.
  And the campaign to spend the surplus began in earnest, despite 
warnings. Leading up to the 2001 tax cuts, the Administration and the 
Republican Congress were well aware of the looming AMT problem. 
Negotiators took advantage of this situation in order to keep down the 
costs of the 2001 tax cuts.
  In June of 2000, one Treasury economist studied the AMT and warned 
that AMT taxpayers were due to grow at a rate of 30 percent each year 
between 2000 and 2010. Nonetheless, President Bush proposed a $1.6 
trillion tax cut without an increase in the exemption level to protect 
taxpayers from the AMT.
  Since 2001, Congress has had to extend an AMT ``patch'' almost 
annually so that the Bush tax cuts are not taken back by the AMT. The 
true cost of what was to be a $1.6 trillion tax cut has been estimated 
to be $2.2 trillion because of the AMT patches, exploding expiration 
dates, and debt-financing when the surplus disappeared. This budgetary 
sleight of hand is largely why we are here--literally at the eleventh 
hour--seeking to stop tax hikes on the middle class and avoid a brutal 
sequester.
  This body should also not forget that we passed the Bush Tax Cuts 
under Reconciliation, which again is part of the background story, and 
the reason they are set to expire again.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to get a deal done on the fiscal cliff this 
evening.

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