Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. REYNOLDS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.) Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee of Ways and Means.…
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. REYNOLDS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee of Ways and Means. Mr. Neal has been a true leader in the goal of trying to get permanent repeal of AMT, and while it is something that we share, we have not yet reached a solution.
So I find myself rising today on behalf of middle class families all across America in strong support of this bill. As my colleagues well know, I have fought year in and year out for the AMT patch, and I am disappointed that Congress has not addressed a permanent solution. Absent a long-term proposal, I think we have no choice but to once again pass a temporary 1-year fix.
Without patch legislation, more than 25 million families will be hit by this stealth tax. This includes more than 21 million taxpayers who didn't owe AMT in 2007. If Congress does not act, each American affected by AMT will, on average, face a tax increase of almost $2,500. We delayed action for so long last year that 13.5 million taxpayers were forced to delay filing their returns. Because we did not act earlier this year, millions more have been hanging in the balance.
We have an opportunity to end the uncertainty of the middle class that they have been facing all year long. Each Member of this House has the opportunity to live up to their responsibility and truly help the middle class trapped in this stealth tax that was so unintended for the middle class.
Yesterday the other body passed their bipartisan tax extenders package. The Senate majority leader was as candid as I have ever heard him when he bluntly told the House, ``Don't send us back something else. We can't get it passed.'' He went on to make it clear that if we do, the important extenders we have all been working so hard to accomplish will die and we will have ``snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.''
In these difficult and uncertain economic times, we have an obligation to pass a bill that can be signed into law as quickly as possible to protect middle class Americans. While I believe our time today would be better spent moving a comprehensive tax extenders package, I am nonetheless pleased to see the majority put up a clean AMT bill before this House.
I thank Chairman Rangel for his leadership on this legislation and Chairman Neal for his additional leadership as the Chair of the Subcommittee of Select Revenues.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Madam Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the ranking member of the Rules Committee, who has long been an expert on trade as well as tax issues that affect this body and the country, the gentleman from California, David Dreier.
(Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.
Madam Speaker, today is solution day. There have been times where I have come to the floor and indicated I was sad over the circumstances we were in. Today I am not sad. We are moving the result of legislation I have introduced since probably 2005, a 1-year patch that protects anyone else from getting trapped in the middle class of AMT and make sure that we do this patch.
I don't believe, and most of the Members on my side of the aisle don't believe you need to raise taxes in order to pay for a tax cut on middle class Americans here.
But I am bringing concern, not sadness, but concern, because Chairman Rangel and Chairman Neal have moved this legislation to the floor and that we, I hope, will pass this legislation, as we have in the past, with very strong bipartisan measure. But I don't take lightly a message from the leader of the other body on the closing days of this session that we make sure that we don't fall through the cracks, our
version versus the Senate--the other body--version that could cause this to fall through the cracks and 25 million middle class Americans are trapped.
So while we are looking to move this in the spirit of strong bipartisan support, it's indicative that the leadership of this body make sure that they full well know how we can get the mechanics with the other body to make this law as the President gets it to his desk.
So the caution is we are not quite there yet because we have taken action today. While I like the version of the bill, we have taken our legislative prerogative and advanced it to have just this free-standing AMT bill.
I support however we get the law signed, but I bring the caution that leadership in this House will have to work very closely with the Senate leadership of the other body to match a solution that's law so we don't put our 25 million Americans in the same harm's way of inaction that we have seen in other years past.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, if I might inquire to the chairman if he has any other speakers, I am prepared to close.
Madam Speaker, it's interesting in the debate, and many of us who spoke today and so many others that have come forward in years past have presented the history or the finger pointing or the direction of how we got to where we are.
The important thing is that we know that we must produce a result, even if it's a 1-year patch. It has been admirable, as Chairman Rangel took over Ways and Means, a goal he had was to rid the AMT tax from the books. We need to work in a bipartisan fashion, I suspect, to reach that permanent goal.
But as we banter some on PAYGO or pay not, or whether they are in or they are not, it reminds me to think as a Member who will not be going home to campaign, maybe I should spend a little time to see how many times we have waived PAYGO on this bill after we beat up the fact that we should do it, it's the right thing, it must happen. And then at the end of the day, we take the Republican version of not raising taxes. Quite frankly, I don't think we are borrowing money for the bill, we are just not raising taxes in order to prevent a tax increase, particularly one to the middle class which both parties so dearly want to preserve.
So as we look to the reality of this year, I remind my colleagues, we have caution to get this bill matched with the other body so that we make law in order to send it to the President's desk to protect our middle class taxpayers.
Last year 352 bipartisan Members of the House voted for the AMT extension that was not offset by devastating tax increases, just like this bill coming before us today.
I urge my colleagues to do the same today by supporting this bill so it may be included in a comprehensive tax extenders package equal to the Senate version, or that the other body relinquishes their very clear, strong warning from their leader. Ignoring the other body's warning will not get this across the finish line. So I urge adoption of the resolution, and I thank Chairman Rangel and Chairman Neal for their efforts and work to get this before us today as we are in the final days of this legislative session.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
