Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
July 30, 1999 -- Page: S9888

TAXPAYER REFUND ACT OF 1999

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I will finish on my statement.

Something very important is happening. What is important is, we are apparently going to pass overwhelmingly the only amendment that will have passed on this bill. On this very important tax cut measure, we are going to add certainly the first amendment, and maybe the only one, that says the marriage tax penalty is not going to be allowed to stand in the United States of America. That is what we are doing today. The bill provides for marriage tax penalty relief in 2005. I applaud the committee for doing that. But I thought we should address it earlier. That is why Senator Ashcroft, Senator Brownback, Senator Domenici, Senator Roth, and Senator Baucus have come together and said that is right. The people of this country who want to get married should not have to pay $1,000 in taxes just because they got married. We are going to end it today because we are sending a signal that is joined by the House that this is our first priority.

So a high school football coach and a schoolteacher can get married and not move into a bracket that is almost double just because they got married. It hits our middle-income taxpayers the most. They are the ones who are trying to save for a new house or a new car or to do something special for their new baby. We are going to send a signal out of the Senate, along with the House, to the President, saying: Mr. President, we are going to have $1 trillion in income tax surplus. Are you serious in saying you would veto this bill that gives marriage tax penalty relief to our country, that gives pension relief to the women who go in and out of the workforce who are unable to have the same pension capabilities as those who never leave the workforce?

Is the President serious about vetoing a bill that provides for Social Security, that provides for Medicare and education, and, yes, the marriage tax penalty relief?

Mr. President, we are making a statement with this amendment. I am proud the Senate is going to take up and I believe overwhelmingly pass a priority of eliminating the marriage tax penalty in this country once and for all. I urge my colleagues to give a unanimous vote for the married people who have been living with a penalty that is not warranted.

I yield the floor.