[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3428]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  AMT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, for the last few days, I have come to 
the floor to propose a number of potential remedies Congress could 
employ to address the current housing downturn; remedies aimed at 
helping those who are struggling most and at creating new opportunities 
for others.
  In this economy, Congress certainly has a role to play. And that role 
is to help those in urgent need, while at the same time taking a longer 
view of the economy and its future strength.
  Taxes are an area where Congress can clearly play a helpful or a 
harmful role. So the debate over the looming AMT tax, which is set to 
hit millions of middle-class Americans with an average tax hike of 
about $2,000 this year, is extremely important.
  Last year, at a time when there was less concern about the economy 
overall, both parties agreed that a tax which was never meant to hit 
the middle class should be blocked. More than 170,000 families in my 
State are in danger of being hit with the AMT tax this year.
  Nearly 900,000 taxpayers in Florida are in danger of getting hit by 
it. It is about the same number in Texas and Illinois, and 
Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. In Ohio, nearly 900,000 taxpayers are 
expected to get hit. And then there is New York and California. In New 
York, more than 3 million families are in danger of getting hit with 
the AMT this year, and in California nearly 4\1/2\ million families and 
individuals are in danger of being stuck with this tax.
  Last year, Republicans insisted that if we were going to protect 
people from a tax they were never meant to pay in the first place, this 
meant not raising some other tax on them somewhere else. Senate 
Democrats came to share that view as well.
  This year, Senate Democrats wisely opted in their budget resolution 
to take the same approach that prevailed last year: No new taxes, no 
new taxes to cover the AMT patch.
  House Democrats, on the other hand, have opted for a different 
approach. They want to raise taxes by more than $60 billion to pay for 
the AMT. And they want to do it by circumventing the legislative 
process. They should know from the outset that Senate Republicans will 
oppose this stealth and unfair tax hike, and we fully expect it will 
fail.
  As the Chairman of the Budget Committee, Senator Conrad, has said: 
Raising taxes to pay for the AMT is ``not the will of the Senate.''
  Republicans stood strong for two basic principles last year when it 
came to the budget: The tax burden is already too high for working 
families and the businesses that create jobs in this country. And 
spending needs need to be kept in check to the President's top line.
  We not only insisted on these principles, we fought for them. And on 
behalf of the American taxpayer, we prevailed. I have no doubt we will 
have similar success this year.
  Republicans fought hard for fiscal discipline last year at a time 
when the economy was not the central concern of the American people. At 
a time when it is the central concern of the American people, we cannot 
be talking about raising taxes by tens of billions of dollars. We need 
to be expanding the family budget, not the Federal budget. The House 
should know that in this economy, this is a principle Senate 
Republicans will defend aggressively.
  I yield the floor.

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