[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 49]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                TAX BREAKS FOR THOSE SUFFERING THE MOST

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has 
dropped over 10 percent, and all economic indicators indicate that we 
are in serious financial trouble. This Congress needs to respond on 
behalf of the American people. Unfortunately, in the past this Congress 
has responded by giving tax breaks to the wealthiest, and it has 
created the largest gap in income between the upper 1 percent and the 
other 99 percent, probably in the history of this country.
  We need to work in a bipartisan fashion. We need to work together. 
The previous speaker was correct: We need to give money back to 
taxpayers. But they need to be the working taxpayers, who are suffering 
the most, the people who are now unemployed, not able to pay taxes 
because they have lost their jobs, or people who need help with food 
stamps, and people who will immediately put that money into the 
economy, not the wealthiest who have savings in the hundreds and 
thousands and millions of dollars and can live on through this and 
survive it and won't put that money back into the economy.
  The tax breaks of the past were mistakes. The spending needs to be 
for people who are suffering. They are the people who know the hard 
economic times we have. I read my e-mails on a daily basis and there 
are many people out there suffering who need economic help now. We need 
to act in a bipartisan fashion, but remember those who suffer the most.

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