[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
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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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