[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 24]
[Senate]
[Pages 33275-33276]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 3996

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to consideration of the House AMT bill, H.R. 3996; that all 
after the enacting clause be stricken, and the text of Senator Baucus's 
amendment, No. 3804, providing for a 1-year unpaid patch for AMT 
extension be substituted in lieu thereof; the bill be read a third time 
and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.
  So for everyone here, Mr. President, in nonlegal words, what I have 
asked for is that we proceed in spite of how I would rather we do this, 
that we proceed to vote for AMT, a 1-year patch that is not paid for. I 
have already given a speech prior to the vote on the motion to invoke 
cloture how wrong I think this is, but I also understand how important 
it is we have the patch. This patch would affect people who make from 
$75,000 to $500,000 a year, the average tax of some $2,000. This tax 
was not meant to cover those people and, therefore, we should do the 
patch. I would rather it were paid for.
  So I am asking unanimous consent that we be allowed to vote on this 
by simply accepting this. There wouldn't need to be a vote; no debate. 
If we get no objections to this, then the AMT would be patched for 1 
year, and we would send it on to the House for their concurrence.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. GREGG. Reserving the right to object, I suspect at a later time 
this will, hopefully, be worked out--hopefully sooner rather than 
later--but at this time I am going to have to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would simply say to my friend, I hope that 
is the case. I hope we can move to this. I am a little suspect because 
we have been trying to work something out for quite a long time now. I 
will renew this request sometime later today, and I hope we can 
accomplish what we need to get accomplished.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I think most of us are a little distressed 
that the other side is objecting to a request which is a huge 
concession on the part of this Senator, as well as most of the Senators 
on this side of the aisle, and that would be helping the other side, 
and that is that we are agreeing to pass AMT not paid for. Why? Because 
we need to get the AMT patch fixed. We don't want the American 
taxpayers to have to pay additional taxes under the alternative 
minimum. We want to get this fixed right away.
  It is also important to remind us that time is of the essence because 
the IRS has to get out the correct forms. The computer programs have to 
be written properly. So I very much hope that very quickly the other 
side will no longer object and we can get this passed.
  Mr. President, this reminds me of an old joke, and the joke goes like 
this: There was a big flood, and a man of faith heard about it on the 
radio. But he did not flee to higher ground. He said: No, I'll put my 
trust in God. I am not going to flee to higher ground, even though 
there is this big flood, which I heard about on the radio. I'll put my 
trust in God.
  Well, the waters surrounded the man's home. And as he was standing on 
his front porch, a boat came up and the skipper said: Jump in, I'll 
take you to safety. And the man said: No, I'm going to put my trust in 
God.
  Well, the boat went away, and the water rose up to the roof. So the 
man stood on the roof, and a helicopter came and dropped a ladder, and 
the pilot yelled down: Climb up the ladder, I'll save you. But the man, 
said: No, I'm going to stay. I'll put my trust in God.
  So the helicopter flew away, and the water continued to rise, and the 
man drowned. The man went to Heaven, and God asked him: What are you 
doing here? The man said: I put my trust in you, and you let me down.
  Well, God said: What do you mean I let you down? I sent you a 
message, I sent you a boat, I sent you a helicopter. I tried to save 
you three times.
  I think that is what the Republican caucus has done to the AMT. The 
House passed a bill to prevent the AMT from hitting 19 million more 
taxpayers,

[[Page 33276]]

but the Republican caucus said, no, we will wait for our own 
legislation. The majority leader asked unanimous consent to consider a 
compromise amendment that did not pay for the AMT but just paid for the 
extenders. The Republican caucus said, no, we will wait for our own 
legislation. And now the majority leader has once again asked consent 
to allow us to consider an amendment that does nothing but prevent new 
taxpayers from being hit by the AMT, and once again the Republican 
caucus said, no, we will wait for our own legislation.
  Mr. President, at this point I want everyone to know if the AMT hits 
more taxpayers next year, it is not because of the House of 
Representatives. If the AMT hits more taxpayers next year, it is not 
because of the majority leader. If the AMT hits more taxpayers next 
year, it is not because of the Democratic caucus. If the AMT hits more 
taxpayers next year, it is because of the Republican caucus. That is 
clear. They cannot take yes for an answer.
  We are trying to set it up so we can vote on a unanimous consent 
request to fix the AMT, unpaid for, and get it done now, but the 
Republican caucus says, no. They cannot take yes for an answer.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.

                          ____________________