[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 183 (Thursday, December 1, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8138-S8139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUT ACT OF 2011--MOTION TO PROCEED

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there is 2 minutes 
equally divided prior to a vote on the motion to proceed to S. 1917.
  The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, this Middle Class Tax Cut Act is very 
simple. It does two things for employers and also helps employees.
  Last year, the Senate came together in a bipartisan bill. We passed a 
tax bill that, among other things, reduced payroll taxes for employees. 
This legislation expands that. Instead of just saying we are going to 
have a reduction of 2 percent of the payroll tax, this legislation cuts 
it in half. So you are cutting the payroll tax in half. That is

[[Page S8139]]

take-home pay, $1,500 in the pockets of the average working family in 
America.
  Secondly, it allows us to provide a cut as well for businesses, 
cutting in half the payroll tax for businesses. It is good public 
policy. It will create lots of jobs at a time when the American people 
are telling us, with one voice, they want us to do one thing here: 
create jobs or create the conditions for job creation so small 
businesses can hire. At the same time, they want us to come together in 
a bipartisan way.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Who yields time in opposition?
  The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, there are a lot of Republicans here who 
agree with one of the basic principles in the Democratic bill; that is, 
there is no reason why people ought to suffer even more than they 
already are from the President's failure to turn this job crisis 
around.
  What the Republicans have proposed is an alternative to this bill 
that ensures that no one sees a tax hike this year. The biggest 
difference is that the Republican proposal ensures that no one's taxes 
get raised in a down economy.
  There is simply no reason that preventing a tax hike in this bad 
economy needs to be paid for by raising taxes on the very employers 
whom we are counting on to help jolt this economy back to life, which 
is exactly what the Democrats have put forward. So the Republican 
proposal would ensure that no one sees a tax increase next year. It 
avoids the gratuitous hit on job creators, and, even better, our plan 
reduces the Federal deficit by more than $111 billion.
  This is a dramatic expansion of this particular provision, which we 
cannot afford when we already have a $15 trillion debt. There is a 
right way and wrong way to do this. This is the wrong way in the 
Democratic proposal. The Republican proposal is the right way.
  I urge our colleagues to vote against this bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time has expired.
  Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion. Under the previous order, 
60 votes are required for adoption.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced--yeas 51, nays 49, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 219 Leg.]

                                YEAS--51

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Begich
     Bennet
     Bingaman
     Blumenthal
     Boxer
     Brown (OH)
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coons
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Johnson (SD)
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nelson (FL)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--49

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Brown (MA)
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Enzi
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson (WI)
     Kirk
     Kyl
     Lee
     Lugar
     Manchin
     McCain
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Vitter
     Wicker
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes 
for the adoption of this motion to proceed, the motion is rejected.

                          ____________________