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Thursday, November 17, 2005
Frist and Kyl's Not-So-Secret Secret Deal
Last week, the Senate Finance Committee could not pass a $60 billion tax cut bill primarily benefiting the wealthy because of opposition from Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and all Democrats on the committee. On the surface, Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) removed the most offense section of the bill, an extension of capital gains and dividend cuts, which nobody denies primarily benefits the wealthy.
But there was something happening behind the scenes. The only way to win the support from conservatives was for Grassley to promise to sneak the capital gains and dividend cuts back into the bill after it left the committee. While that kind of secret handshake assurance between Grassley and conservatives on the committee might be difficult to prove, Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), two members of the Finance committee whose votes Grassley needed and both of whom are members of the Senate Republican leadership who will have great influence over this bill during a House-Senate conference, have publicly announced the capital gains and dividend cuts will absolutely be included in the final bill that appears before the Senate. In fact, Frist released a press statement guaranteeing the cuts would be included.
Frist is quite confident the Senate would support those cuts, stating "I believe that a majority of the Senate supports including them in the final package." One must ask then, why not vote on an amendment on the Senate floor to add the tax cuts for the rich to the bill? Why must Senator Frist use his back-room power to sneakily add a new provision to the bill in conference with the House that was not supported in the Finance Committee nor approved on the Senate floor? Why does Senator Frist not allow for a vote on the merits of this particular tax cut for the rich?
Could it be, perhaps, that a majority of Senators would not vote to support the tax cuts for wealthy Americans at a time when there are so many other pressing priorities and when deficits are so high? This is not the open and transparent democratic process the American people deserve, and it is allowing radicals in Congress to ram through awful budget and tax policies that will harm the most vulnerable people in the nation.
Posted by Adam Hughes
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