income tax rate. [Vote 166, 5/15/03; Congressional Record, 5/15/03] XXXX Voted Against Tax Alternative That Would Have Cut Payroll Taxes. In 2003, XXXX voted against a $250 billion substitute to the 2003 Bush tax cut package that would have provided a two-year reduction in federal payroll taxes. Sen. Bob Graham said that his plan “would not add to the national debt, because it would be fully offset, therefore avoiding the potential that by adding to the deficit we will add to the economic problems we will have in the future.” [Vote 160, 5/15/03; Palm Beach Post, 5/16/03] XXXX Voted Against Increasing Eligibility For Refundable Child Tax Credit to 4.4 Million Lower Income Children; To Be Offset By Delaying Dividend Tax Cut 3 Years to 2011. In 2003, XXXX voted against an amendment that would have lowered the eligibility threshold for a refundable child tax credit from $10,500 to $5,000. Eight million children from working families at the very bottom of the income scale would receive no benefit from the child tax credit. This amendment would extend the credit to families of 4.4 million children. It would be offset by delaying until 2011 the 20 percent dividend tax exclusion originally scheduled for 2008 in Bush’s 2003 tax cut legislation. [Vote 153, 5/15/03; Congressional Record, 5/15/03] XXXX Voted Against Giving a Child Tax Credit to All Families Regardless of Income. In 2003, XXXX voted against an amendment to require that all recipients of a $400 child tax credit in Bush’s “Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003” receive the full payment regardless of their income. The amendment also accelerated Bush’s dividend tax cuts by one year. These provisions would be offset by eliminating the bill’s 10 percent increase in dividend income excluded from taxation from 2008 through 2012. [Vote 151, 5/15/03] XXXX Voted for an Increase In Child Tax Credit; Democrats Argued It Was To “Pump Up” Size Of Bush Tax Cut. In March 2003, XXXX voted for an amendment that extended a $1,000 child tax credit beyond the end of the decade. The amendment would have restored $ 67 billion to extend the tax break until 2013. Republicans said it would help the average American family, while Democrats argued it was to “pump up the size of Bush’s tax cut,” according to the Washington Post. After the vote, Democrats won passage of a nonbinding resolution endorsing what Murkowski proposed. Republicans dismissed the move as a search for “political cover,” but most of them voted for it anyway [Vote 106, 3/26/03; Washington Post, 3/27/03] XXXX Voted Against Providing A Long-Term Care Tax Credit of Up to $5,000 For Family Caregivers. On March 21, 2003, XXXX voted against reducing Bush’s tax cuts and providing a long-term family care tax credit. The amendment would have reduced tax cuts in the budget resolution by $35 billion to provide a tax credit of up to $5,000 for family caregivers who provided long-term care needs. The tax credit would have been good for costs including prescription drugs, medical bills, durable medical equipment, home health care custodial care, respite care, adult day care, transportation to chronic care or medical facilities, and specialized therapy. [Vote 72, 3/21/03] XXXX Opposed a Long Term Child Care Tax Credit. XXXX, on May 22, 2001, voted against a motion to recommit H.R.1836 to the Senate Finance Committee with instructions to add a long-term health care tax credit, with the costs offset by eliminating all income tax cuts in the bill for taxpayers with annual incomes above $500,000 per year. [HR 1836, Vote 140, 5/22/01] XXXX Voted To Cut The Marriage Tax Penalty And Expand The Earned Income Tax Credit. In 2000 XXXX voted to reduce the federal tax penalty imposed on married couples, expanding the 15-percent bracket, and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). [Vote 87, 4/27/00] XXXX Voted Against Allowing Taxpayers to Take $500 Per Child Tax Credit Before Earned Income. In 1997, XXXX voted against a motion to waive the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to allow consideration of the Landrieu amendment to S.949, which was an amendment to allow taxpayers with income tax liability to take the $500-per-child tax credit before the earned income tax credit, thereby allowing low-income families to keep all of the child tax credit. [Vote 156, 6/27/97] XXXX Voted to Allow Payroll Tax Count Toward Child Tax Relief. In 1997, XXXX voted against a motion to waive the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to allow consideration of the Kerry amendment to S.949, which was 269