[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 154 (Tuesday, November 30, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8270-S8271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX POLICY

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about our economy and 
some of the debates and discussions we are engaged in now about tax 
policy as well as to emphasize the need to be guided during these 
debates by the two essential priorities on which we must focus. 
Obviously, those priorities are job creation and continuing economic 
growth, continuing our recovery. We also must make sure that in the 
process of doing that, we don't take steps that will increase long-term 
deficits. So while we debate these many tax issues, I think it is 
critically important that we don't forget about provisions that both 
combat poverty and assist those who fall in the lower income brackets.
  Last month, the Nation added over 150,000 jobs, which is strong 
evidence that we are slowly recovering from the devastating impacts of 
the recent recession. But we are certainly not out of the woods yet, 
and the Senate must continue to pass legislation that will spur 
economic growth as well as to focus on ways we can extend certain tax 
provisions that are set to expire this year.
  The debate, unfortunately, has largely focused only on whether to 
extend the current income tax rates. I am 100 percent in favor of 
extending income tax rates for middle and lower income tax brackets. 
Now is not the time to raise taxes on those middle-income families who 
are still recovering from the recession. Plus, the more money we put in 
the pockets of those middle-income families means more money is being 
pumped into the economy through the purchase of goods and services. 
That is for sure, and I think we will even have consensus on that point 
alone.
  Even as our recovery is slow, there have been a number of bright 
spots. One bright spot in the recovery is the rate of private sector 
hiring. In fact, according to the figures released by the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics, more private sector jobs have been created in 2010 
when compared to the entire 8 years under President Bush. Private 
sector jobs decreased by 673,000 in the 8 years of President Bush's 
Presidency--a decrease of 673,000 private sector jobs. The increase I 
speak of occurred within this calendar year of 2010--an increase of 
874,000 private sector jobs in 2010, and the year, of course, is not 
over yet.
  The tax cuts for upper income folks implemented by President Bush had 
limited impact on jobs in those years, and the income tax breaks for 
upper income folks added hundreds of billions to our deficit. However, 
due to the current condition of the economy and to take every step 
necessary that we must take to continue the recovery, I believe it is 
imperative that we maintain certainty. That is what economists have 
talked to many of us about--to take steps not just to further economic 
growth and to continue to push forward the recovery but to do that in a 
way that creates some measure of certainty. Whether a small business 
owner--hundreds and hundreds of thousands across the country--or a 
large company, uncertainty and change often tend to make businesses 
less willing to expand and less willing to hire. Over the last few 
months, many of our colleagues in the Senate and I have spoken to both 
business owners and economists to get their views on how we should 
handle the expiring tax provisions. What I learned, among several 
lessons from these experts, is that certainty and consistency are 
needed when the economy is still in a fragile condition.
  So I will have more to say as the debate continues about tax cuts, 
but during these discussions about the income tax cuts and what we 
should do between now and the end of the year, two important provisions 
have been barely mentioned: the child tax credit and the marriage 
penalty under the so-called earned-income tax credit. Both provisions 
provide necessary tax relief for those in the lower income brackets, 
and both provisions are necessary to help working families barely 
getting by for their children during this recession, at a time when 
poverty levels, unfortunately, are increasing. At this time, this 
Senate must act to provide tax relief to those who are in desperate 
need of assistance while they recover from the effects of the 
recession.
  First, the child tax credit. This provides tax relief to working 
families with children of up to $1,000 per child. The tax credit was 
first enacted in 1997 and was expanded last year in the Recovery Act to 
increase the number of families eligible to receive the credit. As a 
result of this expansion of the child tax credit, millions of 
previously ineligible families received critical relief during these 
tough economic times.
  These expanded tax cuts will expire if they are not extended by the 
end of the year. Here are the numbers from the Center on Budget and 
Policy Priorities: 7.6 million children will lose their child tax 
credit if we don't continue it. An additional 10.5 million children 
will see those credits reduced or the credits their families receive 
reduced. In Pennsylvania, half a million children will lose that 
credit.
  To put this in perspective, if you have a family with two children 
and earning minimum wage, that family

[[Page S8271]]

would see its child tax credit reduced by $825. That is the equivalent 
of almost 3 weeks of pretax wages for a minimum wage worker--$825--
which would have an adverse impact even on a middle-income family, but 
to say that about a family earning the minimum wage I think speaks 
volumes about the impact of not extending the child tax credit. That 
would be a horrific result for a minimum wage-earning family.
  This vital tax relief is necessary to help families struggling to 
provide their children with basic essentials. If that argument is not 
convincing enough for folks in the Senate as a reason to extend it, 
consider that the money that child tax credit results in will be spent 
immediately and go right back into local economies. It is the same 
argument we have made on unemployment insurance--that it has an impact 
on the overall economy.
  The child tax credit is not the only poverty-fighting tax provision 
that is in jeopardy of being reversed. Enhancements to the earned-
income tax credit are also set to expire. The so-called EITC--the 
earned-income tax credit--encourages and rewards work by providing a 
refundable credit for working people against their payroll and income 
taxes. Millions of working families with incomes of up to $48,000 are 
eligible for the Federal earned-income tax credit.
  The Recovery Act we passed in 2009 reduced the so-called marriage 
penalty in the earned-income tax credit by increasing the income level 
at which it phases out for married couples. If this expanded tax relief 
is not extended, 6 million workers will see their earned-income tax 
credit reduced and 11 million children will be affected. So children 
get harmed by both. They get harmed by the failure to extend the 
earned-income tax credit and the failure to extend the child tax 
credit.

  So while the debate has been focused on the extension of tax rates on 
income, the Senate must not overlook sound tax policy that both fights 
poverty and spurs economic growth. So I would encourage all Members of 
the Senate to push for an extension of the provisions that expand 
eligibility for the child tax credit as well as the earned-income tax 
credit.
  Finally, in addition to those tax provisions, we must not forget that 
today, November 30, 2010, is the day that federally funded unemployment 
insurance programs will expire. I encourage other Members of the Senate 
to not block legislation that will reauthorize unemployment insurance 
programs through the end of 2011--in other words, unemployment 
insurance to help the newly unemployed still suffering through and 
fighting through this recession.
  If folks in the Senate block this legislation today--an extension of 
unemployment insurance--if they block it, I hope they will have an 
answer for the following question or two: What is your strategy to help 
these folks get through this time when they have lost a job through no 
fault of their own? What are you going to do? What action are you going 
to take to try to help them?
  That is one question. If you don't have an answer to that question, 
you should also have to answer this question: What are you doing 
affirmatively to put in place strategies to create jobs? Are you just 
talking about job creation, are you just talking about helping people, 
or are you going to take action to extend unemployment insurance or 
have something else that will help those who are going through this 
difficult period in their lives--many families who never dreamed they 
would be in this position--and are you going to do something to help 
the overall economy to grow and to continue the recovery? Because 
unemployment insurance does both. It helps the vulnerable get through 
this recession. It is the right thing to do. It also has a substantial, 
immeasurable impact on economic growth. All the studies show that. It 
is irrefutable that it is probably the best thing we can do to create 
jobs and to continue the recovery--pass a reauthorization of 
unemployment insurance.
  So I encourage my colleagues to not block, but if they block, they 
need to have an answer to those basic questions.
  In Pennsylvania, the unemployment rate now is 8.8 percent. Thank 
goodness it fell below 9, but 8.8 percent in our State means 560,000 
people out of work. In the summer, it went as high as 592,000, so it 
was approaching 600,000. We have approximately 560,000 unemployed 
Pennsylvanians right now. We have to have an answer for those folks. We 
can't just say: Well, it got a little difficult in Washington, or put 
some other institutional or policy argument out there without having an 
answer or an alternative for those who are unemployed.
  As have many of the Members of the Senate, I have discussed the 
impact of the expiration of unemployment insurance with folks in 
Pennsylvania and others who will be suffering through this. In the 
course of those discussions, we have had a chance to review what the 
impact would be on the economy as well as on Americans who have lost 
their jobs through no fault of their own.
  There is one group we often don't mention. We talk about 
unemployment, jobless Americans and the economy. We often don't talk 
about the adverse impact specifically on children. Mr. President, 1 in 
10 Pennsylvania children has an unemployed parent, and that is true 
across the country--roughly 1 in 10 in many States.
  That translates to 265,000 children under the age of 18 in the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who are directly impacted by 
unemployment--265,300 children who are affected just by unemployment. 
So as we address ways to improve the economic outlook in our country 
and discuss the tax provisions, we must recognize the impact the 
economy has on our children.
  I will end with a line from the Scriptures that says that ``a 
faithful friend is a sturdy shelter.'' It goes on to talk about how 
important having a faithful friend in life is. There are a lot of 
folks, politicians especially, who talk nonstop about helping children 
and the importance of doing that and the priority placed on our 
children and the priority to protect our children from harm and to help 
them especially in a recession. You have to do more than talk.
  If you consider yourself a friend of children, you would support an 
extension of the child tax credit. You would support other provisions, 
such as unemployment insurance, that help families such as those 
families who have 265,000 children who are affected by unemployment in 
Pennsylvania. If you are going to say you are a faithful friend and 
want to be a sturdy shelter for children, what are you going to do 
about it?
  The question we must ask ourselves, among many, is: Will the Senate 
be a faithful friend to children, not just by talk and rhetoric but by 
actions, taking steps to help children get through this recession, 
helping their families and also spur and continue economic growth and 
recovery?
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Udall of New Mexico). The Senator from 
Tennessee is recognized.

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