[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1579-1580]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       TAX RELIEF EXTENSION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2005--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the pending business is the motion to 
waive the budget point of order, is it not?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. H.R. 4297 is still the pending question.
  Under the previous order, the Chair appoints Mr. Grassley, Mr. Kyl, 
and Mr. Baucus conferees on the part of the Senate.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President I am very pleased that the Senate is 
taking the necessary steps today to move forward with a reasonable tax 
relief package. In the coming days, conferees from the Senate and the 
House will work together to craft a final bill for the President to 
sign. Yesterday and today, I supported a number of motions offered by 
my colleagues to instruct our conferees to maintain the Senate's 
position because, indeed, the Senate package enjoys bipartisan support.
  I am very proud that the Senate legislation also includes a 
bipartisan amendment that I worked hard to develop that will stimulate 
investment in mine safety. Our amendment has two key components. The 
first provision allows accelerated depreciation to encourage mines to 
invest in new telecommunications technology, tracking devices, improved 
breathing apparatus, and other critical safety equipment. The second 
major initiative provides incentives for the creation of additional 
mine safety rescue teams. While a miner is trapped, he or she should 
not have to wait for hours for a rescue team to arrive from far away.
  West Virginia, Appalachia, and our entire Nation have been stunned 
and saddened by the recent mine tragedies in West Virginia, Kentucky, 
and Utah that took the lives of 18 miners and devastated families, 
friends, and communities. I have visited our West Virginia communities 
and spoken with families and officials. In the memory of these brave 
miners, we must take bold and swift action to promote mine safety. We 
owe it to coal miners who continue to work in mines to do all we can to 
improve their safety.
  Coal mining is hard, dangerous work. But coal is the fuel for more 
than 50 percent of the electricity that powers our country and enables 
economic growth. The miners who produce the coal deserve the best 
technology to make our mines as safe as possible. But we must 
acknowledge that there will be future accidents in our coal mines 
because of the nature of the industry, and so we must also invest in 
additional mine rescue teams.
  This tax package presented an immediate opportunity to promote mine 
safety. I deeply appreciate the work and support of West Virginia's 
senior

[[Page 1580]]

Senator, Robert C. Byrd. We are a team when it comes to mine safety and 
coal issues, and we are working together on additional legislation that 
will impose strict new safety standards on the mining industry.
  I am very pleased that the mine safety tax incentives have been 
included in this legislation. Indeed, I believe that the bill before 
the Senate includes many important tax provisions that we ought to 
enact without delay. Most of these tax cuts are longstanding, broadly 
supported policies that were unfortunately allowed to expire at the end 
of last year.
  Among the tax provisions that the Senate is acting to extend here is 
relief from the alternate minimum tax for upper middle class families 
who are about to be hit with a tax only ever intended for the very 
wealthy. This bill would extend AMT relief for 2006 in order to be sure 
that families are able to benefit from the income tax cuts the Congress 
has enacted since 2001. I support this relief, and indeed, I believe 
Congress needs to act quickly to address fundamental AMT reform. I have 
cosponsored legislation to permanently repeal the individual AMT 
because this so-called millionaires' tax is no longer serving its 
original purpose. As part of overall tax reform that is fiscally 
responsible, Congress ought to permanently eliminate the specter of 
this parallel tax system. For now, I am pleased to at least be able to 
support a bill that will protect families for this year.
  This bill also extends important tax incentives for the business 
community. For example, the bill extends the research and development 
tax credit to provide more than $20 billion to companies that do 
innovative research to keep America at the forefront of the competitive 
world economy. I have cosponsored legislation that would make the R&D 
tax credit permanent, but again, I am pleased to be able to at least 
support this bill which provides a 2-year extension of this valuable 
tax incentive.
  I have also supported legislation to make permanent the welfare-to-
work tax credits. The legislation before us today improves and extends 
these credits for 2 years. I know that many companies in West Virginia 
have used these credits to provide work opportunities to individuals 
who previously have been marginalized in our economy. There are many 
other provisions in this bill that enjoy my support, including an 
extension of the new markets tax credit, the creation of incentives for 
additional charitable giving, and tax breaks for our dedicated teachers 
who spend their own money improving the educational experiences of 
their students.
  Having said that I support many of the provisions of this bill, I 
would like to take just a few moments to discuss some reservations I 
have with the process under which Congress is considering it. This bill 
is a tax reconciliation bill, meaning that it will enjoy some 
procedural protections in the Senate--the costs to the Treasury need 
not be offset and the final package can pass the Senate with a mere 51 
votes.
  I fear that the reconciliation procedure being used here has put us 
on a very dangerous course. As this legislation is conferenced with the 
House of Representatives, the reasonable, bipartisan tax relief that we 
have passed may be replaced with partisan priorities that do not serve 
the best interests of average Americans. The House-passed bill does not 
provide any relief from the alternative minimum tax but instead extends 
the capital gains and dividend tax cuts beyond 2008. In my own State of 
West Virginia, fewer than 17 percent of taxpayers reported any taxable 
dividend income, and fewer than 11 percent of taxpayers had any taxable 
capital gains. Indeed, nationwide, more than half of the benefits of 
these investor tax breaks goes to people with more than $1 million in 
income. The Senate must insist that AMT relief now is a higher priority 
than investor tax breaks 3 years down the road.
  The impact on the deficit, facilitated by the reconciliation process, 
is also a serious concern. I supported a substitute amendment offered 
by my colleague, Senator Conrad, which would provide all of the same 
tax relief but would have taken the fiscally responsible step of 
offsetting the losses to the Treasury. The cost of this bill could be 
covered by closing tax loopholes and insisting that corporations and 
individuals are not able to avoid taxes by gaming the system, including 
in some cases by simply abandoning their U.S. citizenship. I was 
disappointed that my colleagues did not support this fiscally 
responsible course at a time when the Treasury Secretary has informed 
us that the Congress already needs to increase the national debt limit 
to $9 trillion.
  These reservations, and indeed the declared intention of some of my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle to add investor tax breaks 
during conference, prevented me from supporting this legislation when 
the Senate first considered it last November. As I said at the time, 
and I would still prefer, the reasonable tax relief contained in this 
Senate bill could be passed using the normal legislative process, 
garnering well more than 60 votes.
  However, earlier this month, I supported this Senate bill after two 
important improvements. First and foremost, the mine safety tax 
incentives were added to this bill. As a representative of so many coal 
miners and their families, I will do all I can to advance measures that 
encourage additional investment in mine safety. I was also encouraged 
that during consideration in early February, the Senate passed an 
amendment offered by Senator Menendez, by a vote of 73 to 24. That 
amendment expresses the sense of the Senate that relief from the 
alternative minimum tax should take precedence over any additional tax 
cuts for capital gains and dividend income.
  I hope to work with my colleagues as differences between the House 
and Senate bills are resolved. I hope that we can work together to 
enact reasonable tax relief that enjoys broad bipartisan support. And I 
will fight to be sure that the tax incentives for investment in mine 
safety are maintained in the final legislation.

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