Eliminating the Tax Rebates. During consideration of S. 1077, a supplemental appropriations bill, Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) offered an amendment that would have repealed the rebates taxpayers received in the mail later in the year. Hollings argued that the federal government’s "surplus" had disappeared and that the money for the rebate was needed for various programs — citing specifically defense, education, and prescription drugs. "[D]on’t throw the money around and then cry the rest of the year we don’t have the money," he complained to his colleagues.
The Senate rejected the Hollings amendment on July 10, 2001 by a vote of 3 to 94 (Roll Call 223). We have assigned pluses to the nays.
