During the Senate debate on legislation to cut taxes, Senator John Ensign (R-NV) offered a proposal to lower the tax rate on U.S. companies' overseas income in 2003 from 35% to 5.25% as long as the amount returned to the company from the tax break is used for job creation. Progressives viewed Ensign's plan as a corporate giveaway and argued that the tax break-which rewarded past rather than future behavior-would have a minimal impact on future economic decisions. Moreover, progressives were concerned that there was no enforcement mechanism to insure that the money returned to companies with overseas income would use those funds for job creation. Senator John Breaux (D-LA) raised a point of order against Ensign's amendment by arguing that is was not relevant to the tax cut measure under consideration. Debate on budget-related legislation-which, according to recent rulings by the Senate parliamentarian, includes tax cut legislationis governed by reconciliation rules in accordance with the Budget Act of 1974. Those rules allow Senators to raise points of order against amendments by claiming that they are not relevant to the pending legislation in order to defeat the amendment. To overcome a point of order, a sixty-vote majority is required in support of the amendment. Ensign's amendment attracted overwhelming support and was adopted on a 75-25 vote.