[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 127 (Wednesday, September 19, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6393-S6395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  FAMILY AND BUSINESS TAX CUT CERTAINTY ACT OF 2012--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 499, S. 3521, which 
is the tax extenders legislation reported out of the Finance Committee 
previously.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion to 
proceed.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 499, S. 3521, a bill to 
     amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend certain 
     expiring provisions.


                                Schedule

  Mr. REID. Madam President, following my remarks and those of my 
distinguished friend, the Republican leader, the Senate will resume 
consideration of S. 3457, the Veterans Jobs Corps Act. The time until 
noon will be equally divided on that matter. At noon there will be a 
rollcall vote on the motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to the 
Veterans Jobs Corps bill. The Senate will then recess until 2:15 for 
our weekly caucus meetings.
  At 2:15, there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the 
continuing resolution. There could be additional votes with respect to 
the Veterans Jobs Corps Act this afternoon or subsequent to a vote at 
noon.
  The Republican leader and I have had a conversation this morning 
where we have discussed the rest of the week and next week, perhaps, 
and we are trying to move forward and get this done. We have certain 
things we have to get done, but there is nothing--nothing--more 
important than getting the funding for the country. I appreciate the 
House sending it to us in the fashion they did. So I think it behooves 
us to get this done as quickly as possible.


               Measure Placed on the Calendar--H.R. 5949

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I am told H.R. 5949 is at the desk and due 
for a second reading.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will read the bill by 
title for the second time.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 5949) to extend the FISA Amendments Act of 
     2008 for five years.

  Mr. REID. I object to any further proceedings.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard. The bill will 
be placed on the calendar.


                          The Other 47 Percent

  Mr. REID. Madam President, for months I believed Mitt Romney wanted 
to be President of all of the United States. This week we learned Mitt 
Romney only wants to be President of half the United States.
  If Mitt Romney were President, he wouldn't waste time worrying about 
the 47 percent of Americans whom he believes are ``victims''--whom 
Romney believes are unwilling to take ``personal responsibility,'' and 
those are his words, not mine. He can only worry about how the other 
half lives, I guess. That is what Mitt Romney told donors at a closed-
door fundraiser in Florida a month or so ago.
  But it turns out it wasn't closed. Someone videotaped every word he 
said to his wealthy donors. This is, among other things, what he said:

       There are 47 percent who . . . are dependent upon 
     government, who believe that they are victims, who believe 
     that government has a responsibility to care for them, who 
     believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to 
     housing, to you name it.


[[Page S6394]]


  Mitt Romney said his job as President would not be ``to worry about 
those people.'' But half of Americans are ``those people.''
  He went on to say: ``I'll never convince them''--this is a direct 
quote--``they should take personal responsibility and care for their 
lives.''
  So who are those Americans Mitt Romney disdains as ``victims'' and 
``those people''? They are not avoiding their tax bills, using Cayman 
Islands tax shelters or Swiss bank accounts like Mitt Romney. Millions 
of the 47 percent are seniors on Social Security who don't have Bain 
Capital retirement funds or inherited stock to fall back on. Many of 
the 47 percent are students reaching to afford university tuition so 
they can become nurses or teachers or attend a community college to 
become an electrician or welder or a lab technician. Some of the 47 
percent have disabilities whose challenges are already a full-time job, 
but still are actively seeking opportunities in their lives. Millions 
more of this 47 percent have been unemployed since the great 
recession--not because they are freeloaders or can't be bothered to get 
a job but because some private equity funds closed their factory and 
shipped their jobs off to China. Large numbers of the 47 percent are 
active-duty members of the military fighting for their country 
overseas. More of the 47 percent are veterans getting an education 
earned through dedicated service. Many of the 47 percent are mothers 
and fathers working minimum wage jobs but still struggling--and 
struggling every day. Others of the 47 percent are middle-class 
families raising children with a little help from the earned income tax 
credit and the child tax credit--a hand-up Republicans once bragged 
about helping to enact and, by the way, signed into law by that 
``liberal'' Ronald Reagan. The 47 percent are ordinary hard-working 
Americans who deserve respect, especially from the man who wants to be 
their President. And these Americans pay a slew of other taxes, 
including State income taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes, and sales 
taxes. But, in Mitt Romney's view, they still don't pay enough.
  So let's ask a question: Whose taxes would Mitt Romney raise? Would 
Mitt Romney raise taxes on retirees who have paid into Social Security 
all their lives and are counting on it to get them through their golden 
years? That is a question.
  Another question: Would Mitt Romney raise taxes on mothers and 
fathers who work hard but still struggle to put food in their 
children's mouths? Ronald Reagan thought there were certain people who 
maybe need a little help and so we shouldn't do that. I agree with 
Ronald Reagan.
  Would Romney raise taxes on middle-class families stretching to 
afford diapers and day care at the same time? Would Romney raise taxes 
on Americans with disabilities striving to live full and productive 
lives? Would Romney raise taxes on students stretching every dollar to 
afford tuition? Would Romney raise taxes on men and women serving 
overseas in the military who make untold sacrifices to preserve 
America's freedom and democracy not because they are getting rich doing 
it but out of a deep sense of duty?
  So whose taxes would Mitt Romney raise? We know he wouldn't raise 
taxes on millionaires and billionaires or companies that ship jobs 
overseas. He has made that very clear. If a person is a math teacher or 
a maid or a single mother, it won't be Mitt Romney's job to worry about 
those people. If a person is a multimillionaire, Mitt Romney won't rest 
until they get a quarter of a million dollar tax cut. That is what the 
Ryan budget does and Romney likes that.
  For all we know, Mitt Romney could be one of those who has paid no 
Federal income tax. Thousands of families making more than $1 million 
pay nothing in Federal income taxes each year. I will repeat that. 
Thousands of families making more than $1 million a year pay nothing in 
Federal income taxes. Is Mitt Romney among those? We will never know 
since he refuses to release his tax returns for the years before he was 
running for President. But from that one return--the only one we have 
seen--we know Mitt Romney pays a lower tax rate than middle-class 
families, thanks to a number of things he has done, including Swiss 
bank accounts and Cayman Islands tax shelters. And we can only imagine 
what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a 
dozen years of tax returns as his dad did.
  Mitt Romney believes in two sets of rules--one for millionaires and 
another for the middle class and the poor. If a person has money to 
hide in Bermuda and Switzerland, can that person not afford to pay a 
few pennies more to balance the budget or to reduce the deficit? Mitt 
Romney says no. But if a person is retired or poor, disabled, a 
student, or even a returning hero who fought for our country, Romney 
believes that person can afford to pay more taxes.
  This rare look at the real Mitt Romney--this rare look we got from a 
man who was at a fundraiser for him--proves one thing: He is completely 
out of touch with average Americans. If he won't stand up and fight for 
every American--every American--as President, then he does not deserve 
to serve any American as President.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is 
recognized.


                      Suu Kyi Gold Medal Ceremony

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, later today Congress will award the 
Congressional Gold Medal to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a remarkably 
courageous woman whose cause I have taken a particular interest in over 
the years.
  Suu Kyi's story is so powerful it is almost hard to believe it is all 
true.
  Her father Aung San, the architect of Burmese independence, was 
assassinated when she was a toddler. She lived in India for a time, 
worked at the U.N. here in the United States, and eventually married 
and settled into a happy and comfortable life with her professor 
husband and two boys in Oxford, England.
  That quiet, suburban life changed forever one night in the spring of 
1988. She got a phone call that her mother had fallen ill back in 
Burma. She left to take care of her the following day and arrived to 
find a revolution already underway.
  As her father's daughter, Suu Kyi was regarded as a natural fit to 
fill the role.
  Years earlier, Suu Kyi had a premonition that her people might need 
her one day, so much so that when her husband proposed marriage, she 
agreed, but on the one condition that if her people ever needed her, 
she could go. He agreed without hesitation. More than two decades 
later, he made good on his pledge.
  With Suu Kyi under house arrest in Burma, her husband fell ill with 
cancer back in England. She knew she would be allowed to leave, but she 
also knew she wouldn't be allowed to return to Burma once she did. So 
with her husband's support, Suu Kyi made the difficult decision to 
stay. For nearly two decades--two decades--she remained under house 
arrest in her mother's old home on University Avenue on the shores of 
Inya Lake.
  Over the years, I have followed Suu Kyi closely and I have done what 
I could to advance her cause. Along with Senator Feinstein, I have 
worked to get the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act enacted every year 
since 2003 as a way of pressuring the regime to reform itself. My 
colleague Senator McCain has been active on this issue and has had the 
opportunity to visit with her several times.

  If not for the quiet determination and simple confidence of this 
remarkable women, democratic reforms might have seemed a lost cause 
under the Burmese junta. But in November 2010, we were all encouraged 
when Suu Kyi was finally released from house arrest. And since then we 
have seen other hopeful signs.
  I was allowed the privilege of actually traveling to Burma earlier 
this year to meet with Suu Kyi and discuss some of the reforms we have 
seen. On April 1, Suu Kyi won a seat in the Burmese Parliament. We 
cannot be sure that the progress we have seen in Burma will last, but 
we are cautiously optimistic.
  It is a great privilege to be able to honor this woman who has done 
so much for the Burmese people and for the cause of democratic reform 
and human rights around the world. I am also honored that Suu Kyi has 
graciously agreed to speak about her incredible journey and the cause 
of democratic reform and human rights at

[[Page S6395]]

the University of Louisville next Monday. I know the students and the 
larger community there are all looking forward to her visit.
  But for now, this is a truly special day here at the Capitol. It has 
been a long time coming. We are honored to have this hero with us today 
and delighted to award her our Nation's highest civilian honor.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.


                       Reservation Of Leader Time

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
leadership time is reserved.

                          ____________________