mr. speaker , i rise in strong opposition to this latest wasteful republican tax bill and in strong support of the rangel substitute .  the rangel bill is a responsible effort to extend needed tax relief and protect middle class americans from the alternative minimum tax ( amt ) , but the underlying legislation is the latest installment of the failed republican budget policies that have devastated this country 's finances and much of our economy .  i strongly believe that congress must return to the values of balanced budgets to restore growth and opportunity to our nation 's economy .  i am tremendously proud that in my first term in the u.s. house , congress and the white house worked together in a bipartisan manner to balance the budget for the first time in a generation .  that responsible budget helped usher in a period of robust , broad-based economic growth and produced record budget surpluses .  unfortunately , the current white house and republican leaders in congress replaced that budget discipline with record deficits , exploding national debt and unbalanced budgets in perpetuity .  this bill represents more of the same .  the current republican tax cuts will cost our budget $ 81 billion over ten years , while at the same time , republican leaders have proposed devastating cuts to the farm bill , food stamps , child support enforcement and medicaid .  furthermore , h.r. 4297 , the tax reconciliation bill , raises the taxes of nearly 17 million middle class families in america , by leaving out a provision to extend the higher amt exemptions that expire in a few weeks .  in contrast , the rangel substitute would exempt from amt increases every family with taxable income under $ 200 , 000 per year .  it includes $ 42 billion in tax cuts over five years targeted to spur economic growth through the research and development tax credit , small business expensing and other initiatives .  the rangel bill maintains budget discipline by paring back the president 's tax cuts for those with annual taxable income above $ 1 million .  finally , the rangel bill keeps our word to the families of our soldiers in iraq and afghanistan by maintaining their eligibility for the earned income tax credit .  i urge my colleagues to support the rangel substitute and vote against h.r. 4297 .  