The United States Senate Committee on Finance

Baucus says Bipartisan Tax Cut Extenders Bill Will Give Certainty to Families and Businesses, Support Jobs Nationwide

As prepared for delivery

President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Our capacity is limited only by our ability to work together.”

People today often say that Congress has a limited capacity – that we can’t work together, that we can’t compromise and get anything done.  

By working together here today, we’re proving we still have the capacity to do what our bosses – the American people – sent us here to do: to get things done.

Every day, folks in Montana and across the country work together.  Every day, businesses work together.  Every day, educators work together — all to achieve a common goal. 

That’s what we’re doing here today.  We’re working together to take care of middle class families.  We’re working together to support jobs.  We’re working together to put America’s economy back on track. 

Today, the Senate Finance Committee is putting progress ahead of politics and working together to provide some certainty to American families and businesses.

The bipartisan bill we’re considering today will extend tax cuts that have expired or will expire at the end of this year for American families and businesses.  This bill supports jobs across the country.      

It took a lot of hard work on the part of every member of this committee.  Everyone had to compromise because we all know how important these tax cuts are, and how important it is to provide Americans with certainty about their tax liabilities next year.

Families need to know what their tax liabilities will be so they can plan their finances and determine how much they can spend on cars, appliances or even essentials like food and housing.

Businesses need certainty so they can plan for the future.  They need to know how transactions will be taxed.  They need to know what income will be taxed.  Without this certainty, they are less able to know how much money they have to hire new workers or invest in new technology or machinery, the engines that help our economy grow.

I want to thank Ranking Member Hatch, who worked with me hand-in-hand to get this done.  He was a true partner in this effort.

I want to thank my Democratic colleagues, especially Senator Schumer for helping move this along.  Because of him, we were able to come to an agreement on a package.

I want to also thank my Republican colleagues.  We had to make some tough choices, but in the end we’re doing the business of America.

The actions we take today, and the hard work that brought us to this moment, make me optimistic. 

There are momentous challenges ahead of us this year and next year as a Committee. 

To tackle these issues, we will need to keep working in this spirit of accord to get things done for the bosses who sent us here.  As President Roosevelt said, “our capacity is limited only by our ability to work together.”

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