mr. speaker , we have before us a very important piece of legislation , h.r. 4297 , the tax reconciliation act .  it is very important to understand this piece of legislation within the big picture the republicans are painting here .  just last month , the republicans passed a bill called `` the deficit reduction act. '' this was a spending cut bill that slashed funding to many vital programs my constituents depend on , including to medicaid , student loans , food stamps , and child support programs .  the republicans lectured us on the need to make sacrifices to control the national debt .  by passing the spending cut bill , the republicans actually asked the poor , the downtrodden , the disabled and the young to sacrifice on behalf of the rest of the country .  now we are faced with the tax reconciliation act , which will actually add $ 86 billion dollars to the deficit over the next 5 years .  this proposed tax cut will not help the poor and middle class , either .  an estimated forty percent of the tax cuts will go to families with incomes of $ 1 million or more , and 84 percent of the major tax cuts in this bill will go to the richest 20 percent of families .  in fact , under this bill , over 17 million middle class americans will face a tax increase next year from the alternative minimum tax ( the amt ) !  an important aspect of this bill is the house 's failure to adequately address the amt .  the alternative minimum tax was enacted over 35 years ago to ensure that the richest americans would pay their fair share of income tax .  unfortunately , when the amt was enacted , congress neglected to index the tax rates to inflation .  the amt has now begun to add an extra burden to middle class taxpayers at an alarming rate .  the senate bill provides $ 30 billion for amt relief to the middle class , while the house republican leadership could only find $ 2.8 billion for this cause .  republicans could n't find the money to adequately pay for amt relief for the middle class .  they ca n't find any money for tax relief for those affected by hurricane katrina in the gulf coast .  last month , the republicans could n't find the money to spare the elderly from medicaid cuts , to spare the students from loan increases , or spare our children from child care cuts .  they could n't find the money because they are choosing to extend the dividend and capital gains tax cuts for the richest in our country .  this is not how we take care of our own in texas , and this is not how we do things in the united states .  the republicans are launching an unabashed attack on the american way by ignoring the neediest in our country to give tax cuts to the richest .  mr. speaker , the decision to vote up or down on this legislation is n't a blurry line involving political ideology ; it is n't a debate of republican vs .  democratic philosophy .  the priorities in this bill are misguided .  congress should not be providing additional tax breaks for the rich less than a month after huge spending cuts aimed at the most vulnerable .  congress should not be providing tax cuts for the rich in a time of war !  in the end , this tax bill will either exacerbate our already large federal deficits , or will force even deeper cuts in critically important domestic programs .  i am strongly opposed to this legislation , and i implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote against these unreasonable cuts and instead consider the revenue neutral democratic alternative .  