Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2007
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (Senate - August 02, 2006)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise in support of amendment that is being offered by the Senator from Nevada.
Yesterday, the Republican leader, Senator Frist, told us that the only chance the Senate would have to pass critical legislation to help countless deserving Americans will be if we are willing to reduce and virtually repeal the estate tax in America.
My question and the question of the Senator from Nevada and this side of aisle is, why? Why not just pass this tax-extender package that is ready right now on the Senate floor?
Those of us who have been in Congress for a few years know that this package of extenders is a spoonful of sugar. It helps the medicine go down. It is saved until the end of the session. It is offered as a sweetener to pass a package that is otherwise not palatable for indigestion.
We all know the merits of these proposals. They are very positive, and they help a lot of people across America. Why wouldn't we get that part right?
Why wouldn't this Congress, which has done so little to help people across America, make sure that this package of extenders passes?
Why wouldn't we pass this legislation and make it easier for veterans to own their own homes?
Why wouldn't we pass this to make it easier for families to pay for their kids' college education expenses?
Why wouldn't we pass this and help high school teachers pay for the expenses that they incur out-of-pocket to help students in the classroom?
Why wouldn't we pass it to encourage investment in low-income communities, to encourage employers to hire workers from low-income families, or Indian tribes, and encourage employers to hire high-risk youth and veterans?
Why wouldn't we pass this to encourage our businesses to conduct critical research on new products and ideas?
Why wouldn't we pass it to support coal mining cleanup and bolster coal miners' health care when they retire?
It appears that the answer, as Senator Reid has stated, is very simple. The position of the Republican leader is you can't do these good things for America unless you do something that is terrible for America. Unless we repeal the estate tax creating an additional debt on future generations of at least $750 billion to $800 billion, you can't help Americans across-the-board unless you provide a special tax break for those who are the most well-off in America, the most comfortable, the people who have benefited the most from being part of this great Nation.
Unless you give them an additional tax break, the position of the Republic leader yesterday was, We will not help anyone else in America. We will not help 6.6 million minimum-wage workers who desperately need an increase in the minimum wage after 9 years of being stuck at $5.15 an hour.
We will not pass these tax extenders which help some Americans in so many different ways unless at the same time we repeal the estate tax at great expense to America and to future generations.
We believe these priorities in this amendment are too important to be any kind of subject for games in the Senate. This is serious business. I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, despite all the other debate we might get in, to enact this amendment. Pass these tax extenders at the earliest opportunity.
http://thomas.loc.gov/