This year alone, senate Democrats proposed 31 amendments to raise taxes, attempting to rack up $530 billion in hikes over the next five years. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D.-Mich.) has sponsored the most amendments, at four, that would have cost taxpayers over $122 billion alone. All of hers failed. Of the 31 amendments, five passed with a price tag of $54.4 billion through 2010. Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D.-R.I.) sponsored the heftiest passed packages last month, at a cool $16 billion each, both for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program under Defense Appropriations by Kerry and again 15 days later under Transportation Appropriations by Reed. Budget reconciliation bills have also given Democrats a stealth avenue to increase taxes, namely by trickily enacting a one-week payment holiday to usher an extra $2 billion into Medicare lasting through 2008.
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