Van Hollen will serve as the ranking member of the Budget Committee in the next Congress.

Democrats and Republicans are squaring off over how to extend a series of tax cuts enacted during the George W. Bush administration. Most Democrats want to extend the cuts on incomes below $250,000 for families and $200,000 for individuals and allow taxes on higher income brackets to return to the levels of the Clinton years. 

Republicans, meanwhile, are urging an across-the-board tax-cut extension for everyone. Conservative leaders argue that allowing the high-income cuts to expire would hobble small businesses and drain resources that could be spent hiring new employees. 

“Raising taxes in this environment is a non-starter for me and millions of American small-business people who are struggling to keep the lights on and meet their payroll obligations,” Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House minority whip, said last week.

Still, some business leaders take issue with the argument that extending the tax cuts for wealthy Americans will stimulate job creation. Warren Buffet, the investor CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told ABC’s “This Week” that extending tax cuts for the wealthy will benefit just one group. 

“The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you,” Buffett said. “But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.”

America’s wealthiest folks “should be paying a lot more in taxes,” Buffet added. “We have it better than we’ve ever had it.”

The Buffet interview is scheduled to air Thanksgiving Day.