Democrats’ Mismanagement, AMT Reform, Troop Funding, FISA, Energy, Farm Bill



Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the unfinished business of Congress. The following are excerpts from his remarks.



On Democrats’ Mismanagement:

“Here’s where we are: December 5th, and we have nearly a full year's worth of work to finish before we adjourn for Christmas. It's a little after noon and we are talking about why we’re just getting started now.



“We have offered our good friends a path forward on the AMT, on troop funding, on appropriations, on the energy bill and the farm bill, yet we can't seem to get the kind of bipartisan agreement that allows the minority to have some say over amendments and moving forward.”





On the AMT:

“The chair of the Finance Committee called the Republican proposal ‘constructive’ and said that it was the beginning of an agreement. That was yesterday.



“We want to make sure that 23 million people are not ensnared by this middle-class tax hike, and that the tax returns of 50 million Americans are not further delayed. The consequences of a delay will be felt by millions of taxpayers who will see a delay in their refunds next year.



“It is, however, important to virtually every member of my conference that the AMT—a tax that will never be levied and not collected—not trigger a tax increase on a whole lot of other Americans. And the effort to ‘pay for’ the AMT is highly offensive to members of my side of the aisle, and I think the majority knows that.”





On Funding Our Troops:

“Any discussion of finishing up the year is going to have to include funding for the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. We know we have had this debate a lot of times—at last count, 63 Iraq votes in the House and Senate this year.



“We know that even when the war was going poorly and there was great opposition to the surge, at the end of the day, the funding was there. Now the surge is succeeding, the war is going better, why would we not continue the funding now that things are going better when the majority—which did not favor the effort in Iraq—provided funding when it was going poorly? As part of any settlement of the 11 appropriations bills we are going to have to have troop funding into next year.”





On FISA:

“On FISA, I think we have a way forward. The Majority Leader and I have talked about it. I think we both have the view that the underlying bill will probably be the Intelligence Committee (Rockefeller-Bond) measure. I think we should be able to construct some kind of consent agreement in that particular instance where I don't think there's much of a demand for amendments -- some amendments but not a whole lot -- that will allow us to go forward.”





On Energy:

“On energy, Senator Domenici tells me he had an understanding with the Majority Leader as to what would, and would not, be in an energy bill that we would finally pass.



“It's my understanding that an energy bill that the House may act on, I gather, today…is likely to include tax hikes and utility rate increases for those of us in the southeast. Now, in what way would an energy bill that raises taxes…when oil is $100 a barrel, and as the practical effect of raising utility rates across the southeast, be beneficial?



“My understanding was that the Majority Leader and Senator Domenici and Senator Bingaman agreed that was not going to be part of the proposal. I don't know whether it will be part of the proposal when it comes from the House, or not. But, that agreement ought to be kept. Those provisions ought to be removed.”





On the Farm Bill:

“My advice both privately and publicly to my good friend the Majority Leader on the farm bill is take it up and go forward which is the way we have done it in the past. It is amazing how quickly you move along, and you can sometimes spend more time trying to get a consent agreement which, by its very nature, requires every single member of the Senate not to object. We could have made more progress on the farm bill by simply going to the bill, taking up amendments, and moving forward. That was my advice. It is still my advice. I think if we turned to the farm bill, even if we didn't have a very narrow amendment list, we would make dramatic progress and make it quickly.



“Why? Because I think there are significant numbers of members of this body on both sides of the aisle who want to pass a farm bill.”



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