[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18298]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TAXES AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Madam Speaker, we are now in a situation in this country 
in which we have the greatest disparity between the very wealthiest 
people and everybody else that we have had in 100 years. Already this 
year, the top 1 percent of the income earners in this country have 
earned 24 percent of total income. Despite all of this, our colleagues 
on the Republican side want to preserve tax cuts for those very, very 
fortunate people who have more now as a percentage of the American 
economy than they have ever had. Meanwhile, they're going to deny 2 
million Americans an extension of unemployment benefits which every 
economist agrees is the best way to create economic activity.
  The American people rightly wonder whose side their government is on, 
and the problem, the juxtaposition of these issues that we face this 
week, the question of tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans or 
extending unemployment benefits for those people who are struggling, is 
a clear delineation of whose side this government is on.
  We're on the side of the American people.

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