[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17767]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             BUSH TAX CUTS

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, soon we are going to have to decide how to 
treat the Bush tax cuts. We are going to have to decide whether or not 
to indebt the American people another $700 billion to extend benefits, 
tax benefits, for the richest 1 percent of the country.
  Before we go too far in feeling sorry for that 1 percent, consider 
this:
  From 2001 to 2006, 53 percent of all gains, total gains, in income in 
this country went to that 1 percent. That is right, one out of every 
two dollars went to the richest 1 percent. That is where the economy 
has gone.
  The growth in this country has benefited primarily the richest people 
in the country, and we now have the greatest disparity in wealth that 
we have seen in this country in almost 100 years.
  Heed the words of the Roman priest Plutarch, who once wrote: An 
imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of 
all republics.
  Let's keep that in mind when we consider what to do with those tax 
cuts for the richest 1 percent of Americans.

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