[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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