i appreciate my colleague from michigan , his leadership in helping boost our economy , extend this tax relief . 
i strongly support the original bill over the substitute . 
the substitute takes a step backward in how we treat our soldiers and how we treat our families , small businesses that are affected by the alternative minimum tax , compared to legislation that this house passed just yesterday , we treated soldiers better , by providing them immediate cash refunds on their tax treatment . 
i do not want to step back from that today in the substitute . 
we help 2 1/2 million more families and small businesses with their alternative minimum tax yesterday , again , almost nearly unanimously . 
i do not want to step back from that with this substitute . 
and the original bill provides three provisions that are really helpful for a lot of families in this country . 
it extends for 1 year the sales tax deduction , which provides every family in the country a choice to deduct either their state and local income taxes or their state and local sales taxes . 
what it means is sales taxes , as you know , add up a great deal , add up fast for families . 
this tax relief just stretches the family paycheck a little farther and prevents hundreds of millions of dollars of tax increases on families that would start right after this christmas holiday . 
that would be unfair . 
the original bill extends this . 
this also provides help to universities that receive dollars , higher education from the public higher education utility fund that extends a provision that helps 