Providing for Consideration of H.R. 4351, AMT Relief Act of 2007

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4351, AMT RELIEF ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - December 12, 2007)

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Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman.

Responsible, pay-as-you-go government is a significant part of the new direction to which this Congress committed our country last January. Now is hardly the time to abandon that important commitment.

For 7 years, spend-and-borrow Republicans have seldom met a problem in this country that they didn't address by borrowing more money and incurring more public debt. Now, when America faces a credit crunch, they say ``get more credit.'' They insist on borrowing even more money to finance another tax cut.

Admittedly, under Republican rule, the AMT, the Alternative Minimum Tax, turned into the ``Aggressive Middle-income Tax.'' Republicans were so busy treating the Federal Treasury like an ATM to finance tax cuts for the wealthy few that they largely forgot about the need to permanently fix the AMT affecting the middle class.

We need that permanent fix that President Bush continues to refuse to support, but correcting and reducing the AMT can be accomplished in a fiscally responsible manner. We Democrats understand that discipline is required for fiscal responsibility. You simply cannot make a mountain of debt disappear, say, the way they erased the CIA torture video.

This bill pays for the AMT fix in part by adopting most of the Abusive Tax Shelter Shutdown Act that I first authored in June of 1999, but which year after year House Republicans have blocked. Indeed, they blocked it even after Senate Republicans approved the measure.

Today, we can stop corporate tax dodgers from shifting the tax burden to middle-class families, ensuring both tax fairness and fiscal responsibility.

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