Today I was proud to vote in favor of a bill that will protect 23 million American families from being struck by an unintended and unfair tax increase. This includes 830,000 taxpayers in Michigan, which is 18 percent of all the taxpayers in the State.

Although the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) may sound like something we would rather pay than our current federal taxes—after all, the title would suggest that it’s both different and low—the growing reach of the AMT would have placed a burden on Michigan taxpayers that we simply cannot afford.

The House of Representatives has been wrestling with the AMT for a significant portion of this year with mixed results. Earlier attempts by the Democrat Majority would have prevented this unintended tax increase by increasing taxes for other Americans to the tune of more than $50 billion. Preventing a tax increase by raising taxes is something I cannot support, and it doesn’t make sense. 

That is why I am proud to support the bipartisan AMT relief bill passed by the House today. While I would rather see the AMT repealed permanently, I am hopeful that this one-year patch will be the precursor to a permanent remedy in the future.

Earlier today the House passed legislation that increases taxes on American businesses and consumers, without doing much to actually address our energy woes.

I had hoped the House would consider comprehensive energy legislation crafted in a bipartisan fashion. I voted for an earlier version of this bill, however, I cannot support this new version with additional tax increases and no incentives for new energy production.

This bill does include a 40% increase to Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards.  The new CAFÉ standards will begin in the 2011 model year and require automakers to meet the 35 mpg mandate by 2020.

I believe automakers can meet the new CAFÉ standards, although it will cost the American auto industry tens of billions of dollars. I accept these new standards were the best possible agreement under the circumstances, and I believe Congressman Dingell negotiating them did his utmost to have a successful outcome for the auto industry.

I am very concerned the bill does not clearly identify the relative roles of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation in setting new national fuel economy regulations. This confusion will only be compounded by current litigation by individual states.

CAFE has been a flawed program since its inception. It has not saved fuel and it has only caused more highway fatalities. I believe the real answer to cutting our emissions of C02 and reducing our consumption of Middle East oil must be squarely on innovation and alternative fuels, including plug-in electric hybrids, biofuels, and diesel technology.

Despite these concerns with the CAFÉ provisions, I could have supported the bill had it not been for the $20 billion tax increases on businesses and consumers with no incentives to produce more energy. The end result of this bill will be higher energy costs, less energy production, a weakened domestic energy industry and more job losses for U.S. workers.

It is unclear if the Senate will even be able to pass this proposal, and it is doubtful the President would sign it. It’s my hope Congress will decide to pass comprehensive, bipartisan energy legislation instead of this flawed bill.