mr. speaker , i want to thank the gentleman from new york ( mr. rangel )  for offering this motion to recommit today .  the rangel motion to recommit is about two things : truth in budgeting and truth in borrowing .  in almost 14 years now on the ways and means committee , we have spoken of addressing the alternative minimum tax issue .  there has been a lot of talk and not a lot of action .  and you are going to hear in a couple of seconds , well , yesterday , we took up the alternative minimum tax .  what we did yesterday was a procedural maneuver that allowed everybody to cover themselves , but will have very little reality as it addresses alternative minimum tax .  the gentleman from new york 's motion to recommit goes right to the heart of the matter .  you can , in a few minutes , cast a vote on really doing something about alternative minimum tax .  now , the next thing we are going to hear today is this : the democrats were in charge for 40 years and did not address the alternative minimum tax issue .  in 1994 , a couple of 100 , 000 people paid alternative minimum tax in america .  on january 1 , that number kicks up , next year , to 19 million people who will begin to pay alternative minimum tax .  mr. rangel 's proposal addresses this issue , and we pay for it , as i indicated at the outset of my remarks , honestly .  the dividends and capital gains proposal does not even expire until the year 2008 .  and yet , we are doing that instead of doing alternative minimum tax .  now , this congress had time , in the last 5 years , to repeal a series of taxes on the american people , all , by the way , for upper income groups .  we certainly had plenty of time to repeal the estate tax .  we had time to address dividends and capital gains .  but we did not have time to address alternative minimum tax other than with band-aid approaches .  today , you have a chance to do something .  mr. rangel 's proposal lacks complexity .  you can , in the next couple of minutes , choose between fixing amt or extending dividends and capital gains cuts for the wealthiest among us .  and by the way , when we hear the other side say that these cuts to middle income people for dividends and capital gains , the dividend proposal that they have ought to be understood embrace mr. rangel 's proposal .  give him a positive vote on amt .  but most importantly , give those 19.3 million americans next year some much needed relief in alternative minimum tax .  