[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 162 (Thursday, December 9, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H8266-H8267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CUTTING TAXES FOR MILLIONAIRES AND BILLIONAIRES
(Mr. TONKO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle
have said over and over again that cutting taxes for millionaires and
billionaires will create jobs. It simply has not.
Albert Einstein once described insanity as doing the same thing over
and over again and expecting different results. That is why I rise
today to ask, where are the jobs? Where are they? It is time we restore
sanity to the discussion on tax cuts.
Tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires do not create jobs. They
are also not supported by the general public. In fact, according to a
CBS poll from last week, only 26 percent of Americans support
millionaire tax breaks and only 46 percent of Republicans support
millionaire tax breaks.
So I ask, who are my Republican friends listening to? Is it the
average family or small business in their district, or is it Wall
Street CEOs and an army of special interest lobbyists?
The trickle-down effect has not worked. As any farmer will tell you,
you fertilize a plant from bottom up, not top down, because if its
roots are strong, the plant will be strong. Our country's roots are the
middle class, and it's time we give them nutrients to thrive.
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