[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 128 (Thursday, September 20, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6497-S6498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE 47 PERCENT
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Madam President, this week the leader of the
Republican Party--their candidate for President--was seen in a video
speaking at a fundraising meeting with wealthy campaign donors in
Florida. In the privacy of the event, Mitt Romney spilled to the donors
there what he really thinks about nearly half of the American people.
That is almost 150 million people. He disparagingly said 47 percent of
Americans support President Obama simply because they do not owe
Federal income taxes or they are getting benefits from a government
program.
Just to make sure there is no misquote here, this is Mitt Romney's
statement. He said:
There are 47 percent who are with him--
``Him'' being President Obama
who are dependent on government, who believe that they are
victims. . . . my job--
Mitt Romney says--
is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them
that they should take personal responsibility and care for
their lives.
This is coming from the leader of the Republican Party, a man who is
running to represent every American--all 310 million--from the Nation's
highest office. These comments are disturbing coming from anybody, but
coming from him they are a disgrace. In plain English, he says that if
you do not pay Federal income tax or you receive a government benefit,
then you do not take responsibility personally for your life.
So who are these 47 percent for whom Mitt Romney and his Republican
friends feel such contempt? They are parents who work hard every day to
give their families a better future. They are seniors who helped build
this country and now depend on Social Security to keep food on the
table. They are veterans who risked their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan.
As it says on this chart, ``Who Mitt Romney Says Doesn't `Take Personal
Responsibility And Care For Their Lives.' '' Working families with
children, senior citizens, veterans. Mitt Romney seems to think they
are a bunch of lazies just taking money from the wealthy. So today I
want to take a closer look at some of these Americans who Mitt Romney
says do not take personal responsibility and care for their lives.
Let's first look at working families. He says:
I'll never convince them that they should take personal
responsibility and care for their lives.
What kind of contemptuous statement is that? We are talking about
nearly 150 million people.
Millions of parents across the country work long hours, struggling to
put food on the table and clothes on their children's back. A family of
four making as much as $46,000 a year often will not owe any Federal
income taxes. So these families would be part of the 47 percent of
Americans whom Mitt Romney accuses of being lazy and irresponsible.
These families deserve our support, not our scorn. They did not ask
anybody for a handout, and they certainly do not deserve Romney's
condemnation.
Let's now look at another group of Americans who by Mitt Romney's
definition are victims who do not take responsibility for their lives:
senior citizens.
More than half of those who do not pay Federal income or payroll
taxes are senior citizens on fixed incomes. He says, ``I will never
convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care
for their lives.'' People showing some age, they ought to take personal
responsibility for their lives. Romney seems to think that because
these seniors depend on Social Security they are not willing to take
personal responsibility for their lives. Mitt Romney has no business
lecturing these people, these Americans about personal responsibility.
These seniors worked, paid taxes their whole lives, fought to defend
our Nation's freedom, and built the greatest middle class the world has
ever known. It is Mitt Romney who needs a lesson from them about
personal responsibility.
Let's look at another group of Americans that Romney has dismissed,
troops and veterans. When we send our troops into harm's way, their
combat pay is not taxed. When veterans come back injured, physically
and emotionally, we don't ask them to pay taxes on their disability
benefits. Should they pay taxes on these benefits in order to be
honorable in Mitt Romney's eyes?
I believe they have already given their country more than their
share. If you look at this picture, it tells you so much. In that hug a
returning veteran gets, glad to see his family, they are glad to see
him standing straight, able to communicate. Romney says, ``I can never
convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care
for their lives.'' Imagine that, for him to make statements such as
that to include veterans. We give our veterans government benefits that
they earn through their service. They get education benefits tax free
under a new GI bill. Many receive health care from the VA and some get
housing assistance.
[[Page S6498]]
Never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and
care for their lives?
What would Mitt Romney say to veterans who do not owe Federal income
taxes or receive a government benefit? We have seen the tape. He says:
They are victims who could never be convinced to take personal
responsibility for their lives. Mitt Romney must have known many who
served in Vietnam during his period of maturity. Did he think of them
who served in Vietnam as not doing their share, not taking personal
responsibility?
I am a veteran. I take offense at that. These men and women risked
everything fighting for our freedoms and our rights, and we ought to do
everything we can to support them. These heroes know a great deal more
than Mitt Romney about personal responsibility and sacrifice. Mitt
Romney was simply saying what many in today's Republican Party truly
believe. He has pulled back the curtain on their agenda. He has
revealed the stark choice facing the American people. America deserves
better than a Presidential candidate who dismisses the contribution
that half--47 percent, to be more precise--of our fellow Americans
make--they get derision and disrespect. That is hardly appropriate for
a Presidential candidate to be saying.
He, after all, seeks the job that puts him in charge of the whole 310
million people in America. And yet he has the audacity to say these
people are not worthy of honor, worthy of thanks, worthy of their
contribution to this country? All this time it was thought that Mitt
Romney just did not get it. But it turns out worse than that. He just
does not care. He knows what he is saying, and he says it deliberately.
He just does not care.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
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