Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENAUER. A vote on this agreement may or may not be good politics, but it is wrong. It continues the Washington tradition of ducking tough issues, making suboptimal choices, and trying to make every interest group happy.

I'll be the first to admit that it contains items I support, including some I've worked hard to enact, but they're not worth the price, no matter how much I've invested in them.

This should be the time when we stopped adding to the deficit with nothing to show for it but a temporary boost to pocketbooks with a minimal boost to the economy and controversies that will continue nonstop through the next election. If, like a prudent family, we must borrow, it should not be for current operations but for long-term investment. The tinkering around the edges of the tax code and the fixes, like the need to continue to ``patch'' the AMT in order to protect 30 million people, is counterproductive. It will cost money to repair the broken tax code, but it is an investment well worth the cost.

We should, instead, repeal the AMT, lower the rates, broaden the base, make the code simpler, more fair, and less costly. If we will be $1 trillion more in debt, we should at least address the infrastructure deficit. That would at least pay for itself with projects that will last for decades while putting hundreds of thousands to work at family wage jobs.

Make no mistake, this vote means an exchange for a little temporary relief weighted in favor of those who need it the least. This bill means Americans will pay more in debt and interest, a sluggish economy, and costs of an unfair tax system. It's a bad bargain for the future of America's families.

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