February 14,2006

Grassley: Closing Tax Gap Will Require More Hard Work

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: Motions to instruct the conferees on tax relief
Da: Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2006

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, today made the following
comment on the Democratic leadership strategy of obstructing the tax relief bill.

“Today, the Democratic leadership strategy of obstructing the tax relief bill totally collapsed.
The old saying, ‘be careful what you wish for,’ certainly applies here. The Democratic leaders who
insisted on filing motions to instruct the conferees not only lost in their attempts to score political
points, but had the tables turned on them when the Senate voted to instruct the conferees to extend
capital gains and dividend relief. I’ve said all along that we can extend both AMT relief as well as
capital gains and dividend relief in conference, and I’m very encouraged that the Senate agreed.”