Senate Proceeding on May 15th, 2008 :: 6:24:55 to 6:29:43
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6:19:50 to 6:24:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Boxer

6:24:41 to 6:24:55( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: it be considered as read. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: and i didn't want to forget to -- the presiding officer: the senator has consumed five minutes. mrs. boxer: okay. then i'll

6:24:55 to 6:25:15( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: reserve the balance of my time, but i look forward to a good vote on the boxer amendment. thank you. the presiding officer: who yields time? the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask to take ten minutes

6:24:55 to 6:29:43( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chuck Grassley

6:25:15 to 6:25:28( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: off of the kyl time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: i believe that we should adopt senator kyl's motion to instruct the budget conferees. first of all, i want to comment on

6:25:28 to 6:25:42( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: the status of the alternative minimum tax. there is some good news regarding the need to do a patch to protect over 20 million families. the democratic leadership in this body recognize the importance

6:25:42 to 6:25:56( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: of halting the effect of this tax on these families and provided room in the budget for a patch for t fhis year. so i want to commend my friend, the chairman of the budget committee, for that improvement

6:25:56 to 6:26:18( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: of the budget resolution over previous years. i do so again and note that the kyl instruction is consistent with the chairman's position in that regard. the bad news is that we are halfway through

6:26:18 to 6:26:32( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: the year, and the patch has not been done. the reason is that blue-dog democrats in the other body will not supply the votes for an on-offset patch. by the way, the only blue-dog answer for deficit reduction

6:26:32 to 6:26:45( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: is to raise taxes. we've seen it on e.m.t. we've seen it on spending legislation. we're seeing now the g.i. benefit provisions in the war supplemental bill. why they think of only raising taxes and

6:26:45 to 6:27:03( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: not think of where you can cut spending elsewhere to offset the need to spend some place else, i don't understand. but they never seem to propose spending cuts as a remedy. i think it's fair for

6:27:03 to 6:27:22( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: me to say they never do. they only ask for higher taxes. i hope that people in this body will start to pay attention to this. the blue dogs bark is deficit reduction, but their bite is always more

6:27:22 to 6:28:02( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: taxes. now, in addition to the a.m.t. patch, both bodies need to deal with several expired provisions of tax law. we need to focus on this problem and get legislation ready. earlier today the house

6:28:19 to 6:28:22( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: begins work on an extenders bill. it is offset with tax increases. i urged them to -- i urge them to send it to the senate so that chairman baucus and i will have a vehicle to deal with this pressing

6:28:22 to 6:28:25( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: problem. we need to act ahead of time. we need to act before the i.r.s. forms are finalized. we cannot go through another filing season fiasco like waiting until december last year when it finally

6:28:25 to 6:28:29( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: got passed and the i.r.s. had a lot of extra work after the forms have already gone out. so let's not create big problems for our taxpayers and the internal revenue service. senator kyl's motion

6:28:29 to 6:28:34( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: then is very, very important, to assure us of the quickest route to complete action on a.m.t. and extenders. the quickest route is the same route as last year. drop the offset demand. now, folks

6:28:34 to 6:28:50( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: on the other side happen to be complaining all the time that offsets are essential. i'd like to make it clear that the policy issues behind offsets are one thing. we ought to ask ourselves the same

6:28:50 to 6:29:09( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: question on any tax policy proposal, whether it raises revenue or loses revenue. the question should be: does a tax legislative proposal make tax policy sense? it ought to be decided on the basis of policy.

6:29:09 to 6:29:25( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: that's the bottom line. on the matters of tax policy, senator kyl's motion to instruct, the answer is very evident. on the a.m.t. patch on extenders, the answer is overwhelmingly clear. the answer is

6:29:25 to 6:29:43( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: yes on motion to instruct. the policy call is slam dunk. it's backed up by the politics. that is supermajority votes for a.m.t. patch and extenders in the house and senate that are very difficult to

6:29:43 to 6:30:02( Edit History Discussion )

get. so we have to divorce the merits of the current law provisions from the offset question.| offset should be judged on their merit. a.m.t. patch and extenders should be judged on their merits. we