[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 1, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H228]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   STOP PUTTING POLITICS OVER PEOPLE

  (Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Speaker, for those who believe in the 
Mayan end of days and the prophecy of the end of the world in 2012, the 
fact that our Republican friends have finally met a tax cut they don't 
like surely must be a sign of the apocalypse. Republicans fought tooth 
and nail opposing the middle class tax cut, only relenting at the 11th 
hour to a 2-month extension. But in the more than 40 days since then, 
they've ignored almost every attempt to enact a full-year extension. 
Why?
  Perhaps because it's primarily a middle class tax cut, saving 160 
million Americans almost an average of $1,000 a year. Perhaps it's 
because President Obama proposed it, and in an election year, they'd 
rather defeat the President than, in fact, support initiatives designed 
to help the American people. Whatever the reason, Republican 
opposition, once again, threatens to raise taxes on millions of 
Americans, deny unemployment insurance to 2.3 million Americans, and 
risk Medicare access for 48 million Americans.
  It's long past time the Republicans stopped putting politics over 
people and instead extend those tax cuts for 160 million fellow 
citizens without making Americans wait until judgment day.

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