Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Thomas) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate disagree with the amendment of the House, the Senate request a conference with the House, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House to accompany H.R. 2614.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I asked unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, in all likelihood tomorrow we will be sending the President a bill to eliminate the marriage penalty for most Americans. I urge the President to sign this bill. This bill will provide tax relief for millions of married couples. For individuals or for couples who have incomes of $52,000, they will see their take-home pay increase by a total of about $1,400. Some of my colleagues on the Democratic side have said that is a tax cut for the wealthy. It is not. I don't consider a married couple who have an income of $52,000 particularly wealthy. We want to eliminate the marriage penalty and allow them to keep more of their own money. They should not be taxed at a 28-percent rate. That is what our bill does. Our bill says we should double the 15- percent rate on individuals for couples. Right now, people who have taxable incomes of $26,000 as individuals pay taxes at 15 percent. We are saying married couples should pay taxes at 15 percent at twice that amount, up to $52,000. That only makes sense. If you tax individuals at 15 percent up to $26,000, for couples it should be double that amount, $52,000, except that present law taxes couples at 28 percent beginning at $43,000. So if couples have taxable income above $43,000, they start paying 28-percent income tax. If they happen to be self-employed on top of that, it is 28 percent plus 15.3 percent Social Security and Medicare tax. That is 43.3 percent. In most States, they have income tax rates of another 6 or 7 percent, State income tax. That is over 50 percent for a couple with taxable income of $44-$45-$50,000. That is too high. Congress has passed a bill--both the House and the Senate, identical bills--that says let's double that 15-percent rate for couples, the individual rate for couples, so the taxable income will be 15 percent up to $52,000, 28 percent above that. Again, I urge the President to sign it. It is not tax cuts for the wealthy; it is tax cuts for all married couples who have incomes of $43,000, $52,000, or $60,000. The amount of benefit, maximum benefit, is about $1,400. I urge the President to sign that bill.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the Injunction of Secrecy be removed from the following protocols transmitted to the Senate on July 25, 2000, by the President of the United States: Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Treaty Document No. 106-37). Further, I ask unanimous consent that the protocols be considered as having been read for the first time, that they be referred with accompanying papers to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed, and that the President's message be printed in the Record.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I ask unanimous consent that the vote on invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill be at 10:15 a.m.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I will modify the unanimous consent request to state that morning business be for debate only, with the exception of the majority leader, or his designee, to make a motion dealing with cloture until 10:15 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until the hour of 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 26. I further ask consent that on Wednesday, immediately following the prayer, the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that the Senate then begin a period of morning business for debate only until 10:15 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the following exceptions: Senator Durbin, or his designee, in control of the first 20 minutes; Senator Collins, or her designee, in control of the second 20 minutes.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 685, S. 2420.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee substitute be agreed to, and the bill be considered read the third time. I further ask that H.R. 4040 be discharged from the Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate proceed to its consideration. I further ask consent that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 2420, as amended, be inserted in lieu thereof. I further ask consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, the amendment to the title be agreed to, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record. I finally ask consent that S. 2420 be placed back on the calendar.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, when the Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m., it will be in a period for morning business until 10:15 a.m. Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the Treasury-general government appropriations bill. Assuming cloture is invoked on the motion, the Senate will begin the 30 hours of postcloture debate. If cloture is not invoked, there will be a second cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the intelligence authorization bill. As a reminder, cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to the energy and water appropriations bill during today's session. Under the rule, that vote will be on Thursday, 1 hour after the Senate convenes.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I think the world of my colleague from New York, and I am very grateful. I want to make a couple comments. First, I compliment Senator Roth. This is really his proposal. He is greatly responsible for making this happen. He introduced this in the Finance Committee, and it is going to pass today. I hope, and will even say I expect, it will become law. It will be a shame if it doesn't become law. I also compliment Senator Hutchison for her leadership, Senator Brownback, Senator Ashcroft, Senator Santorum, and Senator Abraham. They have been working tirelessly on this. They have been pushing in caucuses and conferences. They said: We need to pass marriage penalty relief. We have a chance to do that today. I thank the House leaders for doing it. I heard some people saying they are against this. I heard my friends speak against it. They kept saying it is $290 billion. It is not. We are voting today on a $90 billion tax cut, period. Those are the facts. If it is to be extended--and I hope it will be--Congress is going to have to pass another bill, and it is going to have to be signed by a President, a different President. That is another action. That may happen 3 or 4 years from now. I hope it does. We will have to see what the circumstances are at that time. The bill we have before us is $90 billion. I read the President's letter--at least it came from his Secretary of the Treasury--which said: We provided significant marriage penalty relief. In his bill, in his budget proposal, he has a $9 billion tax increase for next year--not a tax cut, a $9 billion tax increase. His marriage penalty relief over the next 5 years is $9 billion. It doesn't do it. It won't work. It won't happen. He has more tax increases in the first year than tax cuts. Over 5 years, he has a net tax cut of only $5 billion. We are going to have a surplus of $1.8 trillion in the next 5 years, $4.5 trillion over the next 10. The only tax cut we are talking about right now is marriage penalty relief totaling $90 billion. That figure loses people. Let's talk about what it means for families. Some people say this targets the wealthy. That is not true. People are entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts. The fact is what we do is double the standard deduction, $4,400 for an individual, $8,800 for a couple. The fact is, people pay taxable income up to $26,000, an individual at 15 percent. That is $26,000. We say for couples, that should be $52,000. We double it for couples, whether both are working or not. We don't penalize stay-at-home spouses. The Democrat proposal provided no relief for stay-at-home spouses. We say the 15-percent bracket should be twice as much for couples, income adjusted, as it is for individuals. So we don't penalize people if they happen to stay at home. We provide tax relief for millions of American families. How much? It is a couple hundred. By doubling the standard deduction, that is a couple hundred dollars for all married couples. Then by doubling the 15-percent rate, that equals the $1,125, if somebody makes up to $52,000. That is the maximum benefit. The maximum benefit is basically $1,125 if somebody makes up to $52,000. It is weighted towards the low- income people, middle-income people. There are millions of American families with one or two wage earners making $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, who will save $1,300, $1,350, if this becomes law. The only reason it won't become law is if the President vetoes it. I urge the President to sign this bill and provide marriage penalty relief as he said he would.

Mr. NICKLES. I am afraid my time has expired.

Mr. NICKLES. My friend and colleague gave me a nice note. The other day I said if I am factually incorrect, I will eat this paper. He gave me a paper that was a March proposal; the proposal we passed in the Senate was $56 billion. The proposal we will pass today is $90 billion.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I will take the 3 minutes then. I thank my colleague.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, will the Senator yield me 4 minutes?

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Bunning) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Bunning) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Bunning) is necessarily absent.