Washington, DC -Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) issued the following statement on the Senate leadership’s decision to include extensions of expiring tax provisions on the must-pass, bipartisan financial rescue legislation:
“Senate leadership took an unprecedented gamble when they attached a package of tax extenders to the emergency financial rescue legislation. If you look at the tax bills we had been negotiating, there simply was no question that we would not let 25 million people suffer from higher taxes under the AMT because of political differences between the House and Senate. Nor was there any question that we would provide relief to our fellow Americans who have been hurt badly by natural disasters. Similarly, we understood the importance of coming together to extend critical incentives for renewable energy to promote America’s independence from foreign oil and the much-needed tax relief for families and businesses included in extenders bills.
“If they’re looking to make the rescue package better for families on Main Street, there are many House-passed provisions that would provide immediate relief, such as an extension of unemployment benefits, money for food stamps and help for families struggling to afford heating oil with winter around the corner.
“The differences between the House and Senate are not new; they have been going on for years. I hope that this Senate gamble is not accepted as some new constitutional attitude by their leadership. We have a process in the House; we introduce bills, hold hearings, and then markups before reporting to the floor where measures are debated before a final vote. Apparently, in the Senate, they just decide what can get 60 votes and insist the House follow suit. There is something wrong with this, not just for this Congress, but for those to follow.
“The Senate can’t believe this is the way the Congress and the House will move forward in the future. Sadly, it wasn’t a surprise that they deliberately delayed sending their extender package. Nor is it really a surprise that they added it to an emergency financial rescue bill that the world is following anxiously. As the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, I would like to say that all of our members believe this is not the way we should govern, particularly in terms of not paying for extension of current law.
“I sincerely hope that the Senate majority will expand to an extent that they will not have to repeatedly capitulate to demands made by the minority."
