WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today said President Obama’s actions in sabotaging a long term tax extenders package have harmed Kansans, including small business owners, teachers, farmers and ranchers who rely on the key, bipartisan tax provisions that were being negotiated by House and Senate leaders.

“The leaders of the House and Senate tax writing committees negotiated a bi-partisan deal that would have provided certainty for businesses and taxpayers to plan for the next two years,” Roberts said. “President Obama’s immigration grenade doomed the tax extenders deal. Negotiations unraveled, a veto threat was issued and bi-partisan compromises were killed. Because of President Obama’s ‘my way or the highway’ approach to leadership, Congress is forced, once again, to cobble together a one year tax policy patch that no one wants. This hurts families, job creators, farmers and ranchers, teachers and everyone who needs to plan ahead to succeed.”

Senator Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance, which has jurisdiction on taxes, had fought to secure the following provisions for Kansas families and businesses in the deal being negotiated:

• deductions for teachers who purchase school supplies with their own money;
• help for homeowners who have defaulted on a mortgage or face financial hardship;
• deductions for college tuition and expenses;
• special depreciation and expensing rules that are important to the agricultural and small business sectors;
• bipartisan language Roberts developed to modify the research and development tax credit so that it could be more easily used by smaller businesses – where the bulk of technological innovation occurs;
• and, long term extension of legislation Roberts pushed to make sure smaller businesses are able to access the capital they need to grow and hire new employees.

Click here to watch Senator Roberts’ remarks on the Senate floor.