[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15512]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for the last 19 months, the American 
people have waited patiently for the Obama administration and Democrats 
in Congress to help them turn the economy around. And time and time 
again, the administration and its allies in Congress have turned a deaf 
ear. Rather than implement the policies that would free up capital, 
lead to investment, and create good, lasting, private sector jobs, 
Democrats in Congress have passed one sweeping government-driven scheme 
after another and then asked taxpayers to put it on their tab.
  A stimulus bill that was supposed to be timely, targeted, and 
temporary turned out to be a liberal wish list instead. Instead of 
stimulating the economy and keeping unemployment below 8 percent, as 
promised, we stand here today with nearly 10 percent unemployment 
nationwide and many more Americans struggling to find full-time work. A 
health care bill that was supposed to lower costs is doing the 
opposite. As I have repeatedly said in the past and as a new government 
report confirmed just last week, the President's health care plan will 
bend the cost curve up, not down. A financial regulatory bill that was 
supposed to protect Main Street is being embraced by some of the 
biggest players on Wall Street, while smalltown bankers and retailers 
brace themselves for the costly and burdensome rules and regulations it 
will impose on them. Every one of these bills came at a steep price to 
the taxpayer, and until now, Democrats have been content to borrow the 
money, to simply pile it onto the debt.
  Now comes the second half of the story, the final piece of their 
agenda--the part where they point to all that spending and demand 
payment for it, where they try to make it all permanent. Democrats 
spent the last 2 years putting government in charge of health care, the 
financial sector, car companies, insurance companies, student loans--
you name it. Now they want the tax hike to pay for it all. Americans 
asked the administration to fix the sink, and they remodeled the house 
instead. Now they are sending us the bill.
  That was the plan all along: force these massive programs through, 
drive up the debt, call it a crisis, and then demand that people pay 
their ``fair share'' to dig us out. It starts with small business 
owners, but I assure you it will not stop there because if Democrats 
spend this much money in the middle of a recession, they will borrow 
and spend even more once we are out of it. The President admitted as 
much just last week on national television when he said the tax hike he 
is asking for will not be used to pay for any of the things he has 
already done. He will use the money from these tax hikes to spend on 
other things, on ``better things,'' as he put it. We have seen the so-
called better things Democrats want to spend tax money on--a stimulus 
bill that is funding research on interpretive dance and monkeys, a 
health care bill that cut Medicare and increased premiums, and a 
financial regulatory bill that hires more of the same kinds of 
Washington bureaucrats who missed the last crisis. Americans have had 
it. They are tired of Democratic leaders in Washington pursuing the 
same government-driven programs that have done nothing but add to the 
debt and the burden of government.
  We cannot allow this administration to demand that small business 
owners in this country pay for its own fiscal recklessness. That is why 
I am introducing legislation today that ensures no one in this country 
will pay higher income taxes next year than they are right now. We 
cannot let the people who have been hit the hardest by this recession 
and who need to create the jobs that will get us out of it foot the 
bill for the Democrats' 2-year adventure in expanded government. We 
can't allow America's job creators to pay for Democrats' out-of-control 
spending over the past 2 years any more than we can allow Main Street 
to pay for the greed of Wall Street. Wall Street should pay for its own 
excesses. So should the administration and Democratic leaders in 
Washington.
  The good news is there is a growing chorus of Democrats, at least 
five right here in the Senate, who are coming around on this issue. 
They oppose the tax hikes the administration is proposing. As Senator 
Lieberman put it earlier today:

       I don't think it makes sense to raise any Federal taxes 
     during the uncertain economy we are struggling through. The 
     more money we leave in private hands, the quicker our 
     economic recovery will be.

  That was Senator Lieberman today. I couldn't agree more. Only in 
Washington could someone propose a tax hike as an antidote to a 
recession.
  This is no small tax hike. The tax hike the administration is 
proposing, according to the IRS, would apply to half of all small 
business income in this country. An analysis by the National Federation 
of Independent Business shows that businesses that employ 20 to 250 
people would be the hardest hit. All told, according to the nonpartisan 
Joint Committee on Taxation, right at 750,000 small businesses would be 
impacted by this tax increase.
  Here is the bottom line: No recovery will take place until the 
government stops overspending. No recovery will take place until 
government stops imposing new regulations and costs on business. No 
recovery will take place if we impose new taxes on the people we need 
to create jobs. Democratic leaders need to listen to what the American 
people have been shouting at us for the last 19 months: The reckless 
spending has to stop. So far, they have made no concrete concessions, 
but now it is time they join Republicans, stand up to the 
administration, and declare that the spending spree is over. That is 
the first step on the road to recovery.
  As for the next step, Republicans stood together before the August 
recess and put together a plan that would save taxpayers $300 billion 
over the next 10 years. That is a good place to start.
  So Democrats have a choice. They can stand with us on this proposal 
and show they finally realize we cannot spend our way out of the 
recession or they can continue to stand with an administration whose 
policies--real and threatened--represent the greatest obstacle to our 
Nation's economic recovery.
  Let's face it. The Democratic agenda has been disastrous for the 
economy: 2\1/2\ million jobs lost, $2.5 trillion more in debt, more 
job-stifling regulations, mandates, and redtape, and now they want to 
drive another nail in the coffin--a massive tax hike on the very people 
who will dig us out of this recession by expanding their businesses and 
creating jobs.
  Republicans are offering a choice: more of the same or the new 
direction the American people are asking for.
  I yield the floor.

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