Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 123.djvu/3566

 123STA T . 3 546CON C UR R E NT RESO L UT I ONS — A P R.2 9, 2 0 09 TI T LEV—PO LI CYSEC.501 . POLI C Y O NM I D DLE - CL A SS T A XR ELIE F AND RE V EN U ES. Itis t hepol i cy o f this r esol u tio n to m inimi z e fisc a l b ur d ens on w or k in g families and their children and grandchildren . It is the policy of this resolution to e x tend the following tax relief con - sistent with current policy —(1) relief for the tens of millions of middle-income house- holds who would otherwise be sub j ect to the A lternati v e M in- imum T ax (AMT) under current law ( 2 ) middle-class tax relief; and ( 3 ) elimination of estate taxes on all but a minute fraction of estates. In total , this resolution supports the extension of over $ 1, 750 ,000,000,000 in tax relief to individuals and families relative to current law. This resolution supports additional, deficit-neutral tax relief, including the extension of AMT relief, expanding the eligibility for the refundable child credit, the research and experimentation tax credit, the deduction for S tate and local sales taxes, the enactment of a tax credit for school construction bonds, and other tax relief for working families. The cost of enacting such policies may be offset by reforms within the Internal R evenue C odeof1 986 that produce higher rates of tax compliance to close the ‘ ‘tax gap ’ ’ and reduce taxpayer burdens through tax simplifica- tion. The P resident’s budget proposes a variety of other revenue offsets. U nless expressly provided, this resolution does not assume any of the specific revenue offset proposals provided for in the President’s budget. D ecisions about specific revenue offsets are made by the H ouse Committee on W ays and Means and the Senate Committee on F inance, which are the tax-writing committees. SEC. 50 2 . POLICY ON DEFENSE PRIORITIES. It is the policy of this resolution that— (1) there is no higher priority than the defense of our N ation, and therefore the Administration and Congress will make the necessary investments and reforms to strengthen our military so that it can successfully meet the threats of the 21st century; (2) ac q uisition reform is needed at the Department of Defense to end excessive cost growth in the development of new weapons systems and to ensure that weapons systems are delivered on time and in adequate quantities to equip our servicemen and servicewomen; (3) the Department of Defense should review defense plans to ensure that weapons developed to counter Cold War-era threats are not redundant and are applicable to 21st century threats; ( 4 ) sufficient resources should be provided for the Depart- ment of Defense to aggressively address the 758 unimplemented recommendations made by the G overnment Accountability O ffice (GAO) since 2001 to improve practices at the Department of Defense, which could save billions of dollars that could be applied to priorities identified in this section; (5) the Department of Defense should review the role that contractors play in its operations, including the degree to which contractors are performing inherently governmental functions,