May 12,2003

Baucus Comments on New Finance Committee Tax Cut Markup

Tomorrow night the Senate Finance Committee will hold another mark-up of thePresident’s Jobs and Growth tax bill. Due to a parliamentary procedure oversight, todaythe Senate parliamentarian ruled that S.2, the bill the Finance Committee voted out ofCommittee on Friday, did not comply with the reconciliation instructions. Senate rulesrequire that Committee’s mark-up only original legislation.

“It is unfortunate that the bill is out of compliance, but I encourage my FinanceCommittee colleagues to join me in swiftly reporting the corrected bill consistent with theprevious markup,” Baucus said. “It is necessary to follow the Senate rules applicable toreconciliation and I would discourage my colleagues from offering additionalamendments.”