[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 155 (Wednesday, December 5, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S7426]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUTS

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, middle-class families in our country 
today are paying very close attention to what we are doing here in 
Washington, DC. They really understand what is at stake. They know the 
impact our decisions will have on their lives, and they keep hoping 
their elected officials will finally come together around a budget deal 
that works for them.
  Less than a month ago, we concluded an election season that engaged 
our Nation in a conversation about this very issue. Candidates for the 
Presidency and for the Senate on down all laid out their positions on 
some of the key questions we are now hoping to answer. Should the 
middle-class tax cuts be extended? Should the Bush tax cuts on the rich 
end? Should we end the Medicare guarantee for our seniors and the next 
generation?
  Well, those big questions were discussed, argued, and clear positions 
were taken, and voters went to polling places on election day to render 
their verdict. The outcome was clear. Candidates who stood for the 
middle class won. Candidates who advocated for our seniors came out 
ahead. And in exit polls across the country, voters made very clear 
that they strongly supported the idea that the wealthy should pay 
higher tax rates and their fair share.
  And everyone--Democrat, Republican, Independent; wealthy, low income, 
middle class; students, workers, retirees; older, younger, and in 
between--everyone supports extending the tax cuts for the middle class. 
Nobody thinks the taxes should go up for 98 percent of our workers and 
97 percent of our small business owners.
  This ought to be easy. The American people just weighed in supporting 
a continuation of the Bush tax cuts for the middle class. It is a 
policy Democrats and Republicans agree on, and it would cushion 
millions of middle-class families across the country from a significant 
portion of the upcoming so-called fiscal cliff.
  So why isn't it already in law? Why aren't middle-class families 
already able to feel confident in their taxes not going up? Well, for 
one reason, and one reason alone. House Republicans continue to hold 
the middle class hostage in a desperate and deeply misguided attempt to 
buck the will of the people, ignore the results of this election, and 
protect the wealthiest Americans from paying their fair share. That is 
all there is to it.
  If Republicans truly cared about keeping taxes low for the middle 
class, they can do it right now. The Senate passed a bill that would 
extend the tax cuts for 98 percent of families and 97 percent of 
workers. President Obama said he would sign it into law. He even showed 
us the pen. All the House has to do is let this bill come up for a vote 
and pass it and middle-class families can go into these holidays with 
the certainty they deserve.
  I want to be very clear about something because some of my Republican 
colleagues seem intent on confusing the issue. Republicans do not have 
to support taxes going up on the rich in order to vote for our bill to 
keep taxes low on the middle class. Let me repeat that. Republicans can 
believe that the Bush tax cuts for the rich should be extended, they 
can remain committed to fighting for that misguided policy, in my 
opinion, and they can still vote on the portion of the tax cuts we all 
agree should be extended for the middle class. Then middle-class 
families would win, we would have worked together to extend tax cuts 
for 98 percent of workers and 97 percent of small business owners. Then 
when the middle class is taken care of, I would be happy to engage my 
Republican colleagues in a debate about extending the Bush tax cuts for 
the top 2 percent.
  But the first step, the most obvious step, is for the Republican 
House to take the 98 percent both sides agree on, pass our Senate bill, 
and send it to the President for his signature.
  Recently there have been some cracks in the Republican rhetorical 
armor that has held fast against compromise for years. More and more 
Republicans have begun to accept in their rhetoric what Democrats--and, 
frankly, every bipartisan group that has examined this issue--have 
known all along: A deficit deal is going to have to be balanced. It is 
going to have to include new revenue from the wealthiest Americans.
  Grover Norquist calls these ``impure thoughts,'' but to most 
Americans it is common sense. Now the onus is on Republicans--and 
especially their leadership--to follow this encouraging rhetoric with 
some action. So far that has been lacking.
  The lengths to which Republicans are now going in order to protect 
the rich from paying higher rates would be comical if it were not so 
detrimental. They say they have accepted that revenue needs to be on 
the table, but then the proposal that Speaker Boehner made to the 
President would actually cut rates for the rich. It lacks any details 
about where that claimed revenue would come from. And just as 
independent analysts confirmed about the Ryan plan, and just as we saw 
in the Romney plan, when you are talking about simply closing loopholes 
and ending deductions, either the math does not add up or the middle 
class ends up bearing the entire burden.
  Republicans are tying themselves in knots to avoid the obvious: The 
easiest way to raise revenue from the wealthiest Americans is simply to 
allow the Bush tax cuts for the top 2 percent to expire as scheduled. 
That is what the Democrats want, it is what the American people 
support, and it would move us a long way toward the balanced and 
bipartisan deal we are all working to get to.
  My colleague in the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Pelosi, 
is circulating a discharge petition to bring the Senate bill to the 
House floor. I strongly support this move, and I urge House Republicans 
to sign on and allow this legislation to come to the floor for a vote.
  Democrats have proven we are willing to make the tough compromises 
that a balanced and bipartisan deal will require. And we have been very 
clear we will not allow Republicans to push through a bad deal that 
forces seniors and the middle class to bear this burden all alone.
  I am hopeful Speaker Boehner and House Republicans will decide to 
stop holding the middle class hostage, allow the Senate bill to come to 
the floor, put it up for a vote, and give our middle-class families the 
tax cuts on which we all agree.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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