[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 113 (Tuesday, July 26, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5502-H5503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DO THE RIGHT THING
(Mr. MORAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I'll never forget the day that we voted for
the Clinton tax rates. We were told by all of the Republicans that this
was going to cause massive job losses, an unbalanced budget, and drive
us into recession. And not one Republican voted with us. Well, we know
exactly what happened: More than 20 million new jobs were created; we
had the lowest level of poverty, the highest expansion of the middle
class, three straight budget surpluses, and the people at the highest
tax rates took home more after-tax income than at any time in American
history. It worked. And we had over $5.6 trillion in surplus projected
over the now past decade.
Then when the Republicans took power again, what happened?
Immediately they cut taxes--but not across the board--in a way designed
primarily to benefit the wealthy. That's why the top 1 percent have 42
percent of this
[[Page H5503]]
Nation's wealth; while the bottom 90 percent have 26 percent, the
greatest income disparity ever. This is a manufactured crisis, Mr.
Speaker. Do what Alan Greenspan recommended: Go back to the Clinton tax
rates; balance the budget; pay for the wars; pay for tax cuts; pay for
expansion of Medicare; meet your obligations; don't manufacture crises;
and don't drive us to deadlines when the whole world is watching and
wondering if we are serious about governing the world's strongest
economy.
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