For Immediate Release

SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP FIGHTS TO ENSURE MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUTS

Will hold Senate in session past September until Republicans stop holding middle class hostage to handouts for multi-millionaires

Washington, DC–The Senate Democratic Leadership today sent the following letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, pledging to fight the Republican Leader’s promise to hold the economic security of middle-class Americans hostage to a near-trillion dollar giveaway to multi-millionaires. Senator Frist has pledged to block important middle-class tax cuts if the Senate does not pass flawed legislation that will cut wages for workers across the country and give massive handouts to multi-millionaires. The Democratic Senators promised to fight for those provisions every week the Senate remains in session-even holding the Senate in session past September if necessary to pass them.

While the Do Nothing Republican Congress has finally roused itself to action in order to hold the middle class hostage to handouts for multi-millionaires, Democrats are fighting to protect the middle class and take this country in a new direction.

The text of the letter is below.

August 2, 2006

The Honorable William Frist, M.D.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Room S-230
U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Frist:

We were deeply disturbed to hear you say yesterday that if the Senate fails to enact legislation to virtually repeal the estate tax, you do not intend to permit the Senate to consider crucial tax provisions like the tuition deduction, R&D tax credit and state and local sales tax deduction. By breaking your pledge to include these tax provisions in the pensions conference report, you have disappointed and frustrated millions of hard working Americans, students, teachers and businesses. Now, you are holding them hostage to your unending desire to repeal the estate tax.

The latest version is a fiscally irresponsible tax break that benefits only 8,100 Americans at the cost of nearly $800 billion. Equally disturbing is the fact that after 10 years of refusing to hold a straight up or down vote on the minimum wage, you are holding 15 million more Americans hostage as their real wages decline for a flawed bill.

Following this week’s vote on the motion to proceed to the estate tax bill, we intend to seek consent to pass the tax provisions included in the so-called “trifecta” bill and the pensions bill every week that the Senate remains in session. Although you are threatening to never bring these provisions back to the floor in order to help pass your fiscally irresponsible estate tax proposal this week, we intend to give you and your Republican colleagues an opportunity to help working Americans.

Should you decide to object, you should know that we will also oppose any motion to adjourn the Senate at the end of September until the Senate deals with these measures. We hope that these actions will not be necessary and that you will choose to address these issues in a fair and timely manner.

Sincerely,

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
Assistant Democratic Leader Richard Durbin
Senator Debbie Stabenow
Senator Charles Schumer