{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senate-floor-senator-collins-urges-colleagues-support-amendments-she-introduced-support-tax", "From the Senate Floor,   Senator Collins Urges Colleagues to Support Amendments She Introduced to Support Tax Relief for the Middle Class", "2017-11-30", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "ME", "Susan Collins", "C001035", "www.collins.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Click HERE to read Senator Collins\u2019 floor remarks\nClick HERE to watch Senator Collins\u2019 floor remarks\nNote to assignment editors and news directors: Click HERE for high-quality video of Senator Collins\u2019 floor remarks\nWashington, D.C. -\u00a0U.S. Senator Susan Collins spoke from the Senate floor this afternoon to urge her colleagues to support four amendments she introduced to the Senate tax reform bill that would strengthen the legislation in important ways for middle-income Americans.\u00a0\n\u201cBy reforming our nation\u2019s tax code, we can reduce the tax burden on hardworking Americans and help spur job creation and economic growth,\u201d said Senator Collins.\u00a0 \u201cMy amendments would improve upon the Senate\u2019s current tax reform proposal by allowing filers to deduct state and local property taxes, protecting retirement benefits for employees of nonprofit organizations and local governments, making the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit refundable, and reducing the threshold for deducting medical expenses.\u00a0 These amendments would provide essential tax relief for many middle-class families in Maine and across the country.\u201d\n\u00a0\nSenator Collins\u2019 first amendment would allow taxpayers to deduct up to $10,000 in state and local property taxes.\u00a0 In recent years more than 95 percent of all itemizers, and 28 percent of all federal income tax filers, deducted state and local taxes, including property taxes.\u00a0 Yet, the Senate bill would eliminate this deduction altogether.\u00a0 This deduction is especially important to Maine, where 166,000 itemizers deducted a total of $725 million in property taxes on their federal income tax returns each year.\u00a0 Senator Collins\u2019 amendment would allow the vast majority of Mainers who itemize to fully deduct their property taxes.\n\u00a0\nThe second amendment Senator Collins introduced would strike a provision that could reduce the retirement benefits of church, charity, school, and government employees, including firefighters, teachers, and police officers.\u00a0 As drafted, the Senate bill would eliminate critical tax rules that allow employees of nonprofits and local governments to make additional \u201ccatch-up\u201d and \u201cmake up\u201d contributions to their retirement accounts during and near the end of their careers.\u00a0 This amendment would protect these special rules to ensure those employees who serve the public achieve greater retirement security.\n\u00a0\nSenator Collins\u2019 third amendment would improve the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making it refundable, thus providing much-needed assistance to low-income working families.\u00a0 This would help many families afford high-quality child care or adult day care for older parents or other relatives who can no longer care for themselves.\n\u00a0\nFinally, Senator Collins introduced an amendment that would lower the threshold for Americans to deduct medical expenses.\u00a0 Currently, due to a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), consumers can deduct medical expenses only if they exceed 10 percent of their income.\u00a0\u00a0 Senator Collins\u2019 amendment would restore the threshold to 7.5 percent, the level prior to the ACA, to help all taxpayers, and particularly seniors, who are struggling with high medical costs.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senate-floor-senator-collins-urges-colleagues-support-amendments-she-introduced-support-tax"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9313579648733139, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}