Floor Discussion on the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Act of 2003

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this is a simple amendment. Two years ago, on the last tax bill, we took a historic step in this body. We said part of college tuition should be tax deductible. We required that the first $3,000 be deductible for a family making up to $160,000 a year. This will raise that. It goes up to $4,000 in the next fiscal year under the previous law, and then it expires in 2006. This law would make it permanent and raise the amount to $8,000 initially, next year, and then $12,000 in future years.
    
It is very simple. It pays for itself, by the way, by reducing the top rate not by three points but by one point. The choice is simple. Middle-class people have an awfully difficult time paying for college. If you are rich, you can afford it. If you are poor, we help you, and we should. But the middle class gets stuck. Families are up late at night worrying about how they are going to pay the tuition bill.
    
I ask my colleagues, which do they choose? Bring the top rate down but not as quickly and help middle-class families with the second greatest expense they face other than their home, or bring the rate down quickly? It is a simple choice. I hope the body will vote for the middle-class parents who are stuck with these huge tuition bills.