Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007 -- Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

TEMPORARY TAX RELIEF ACT OF 2007--MOTION TO PROCEED -- (Senate - December 06, 2007)

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, before we cast our votes this morning, Americans should know exactly what we are voting on. This is not a vote on fixing the AMT; this is a vote to raise taxes. Every year for the last 4 years, Republicans in Congress have found a way, usually by May of the year in question, to correct a glitch in the Tax Code that threatens to affect more and more families each year.

This is a middle-class tax that was never meant to be. It was created to make sure 155 super-rich individuals couldn't avoid paying taxes. But because the people who wrote it didn't account for inflation, it now threatens 25 million middle-class families.

Republicans have always found a way to deal with this problem with the tax laws, and we did it without raising taxes. But the majority that now controls Congress has a different view. They don't want to protect the 25 million Americans who get hit by this glitch over the next few months, unless Republicans agree to raise taxes on other Americans in the process.

Let me say that again. What we are talking about here is extending current tax law, which normally we have done, and adding a new condition to that, saying we are only going to extend this tax break if we raise taxes on a whole lot of other Americans. Now, Republicans will respond to this proposal in the same way we have responded to it publicly and privately all year: No deal. No tax hike.

Democrats thought they could force us into accepting this proposal by waiting until the last days of the session to call a vote, but they were wrong. What they have forced instead is a crisis. Unless they fix this glitch, millions of Americans--including more than 3 million in New York, 98,000 in Nevada, and 819,000 in Illinois--will get a big surprise when they sit down to do their taxes over the next few months. Millions more will face delays in getting the tax refund checks they count on every year.

The majority needs to find a way to fix this problem before it gets even worse. We have been warning them about it all year long. The senior Republican on the Finance Committee reminded us yesterday that he has spoken on the Senate floor on this issue no fewer than 12 times since last January. Senator Grassley has spoken on this issue no fewer than 12 times since last January. The Treasury Secretary sent us urgent letters. The IRS sent us urgent letters. There is really no excuse for the delay.

This is a problem we can solve. We have shown the Democrats how. We don't need the majority leader to do a backflip off the Secretary's chair, as he suggested yesterday. We want him to give us a fix that does not raise taxes, that is fair, that is simple. This will work, and this will not put the majority leader or anyone else at risk of any physical harm.

So far, the majority has refused our offer. So here we are, about to vote on a massive tax hike that we know would not pass the Senate--and which we know the President wouldn't even sign if it did pass the Senate--instead of doing our job and fixing this middle-class tax hike.

With all due respect, this is no way to legislate. Let me be very clear to my colleagues across the aisle: Republicans will not raise taxes--will not raise taxes--in exchange for blocking a tax that was never meant to be. Our position has never been a secret. The Democrats have known it all year.

I will vote against this massive tax hike, and I urge all of our colleagues to do the same.

I yield the floor.

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