[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13862]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      PROTECTING THE MIDDLE CLASS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, Americans have sent a message to Congress 
that no issue is more important to them than jobs. But for Republicans, 
job creation is less important than slashing spending on initiatives 
that create jobs and the Social Security and Medicare benefits seniors 
have earned. Democrats believe we can reduce the deficit without 
abandoning job creation. We can make smart, strategic cuts that will 
not further slow down our struggling economy, while protecting and 
advancing initiatives that create jobs. That is why President Obama has 
released detailed proposals to create 2 million jobs now while reducing 
the deficit by more than $4 trillion over the next decade.
  But many Republicans have criticized both proposals even before 
looking at their substance. It seems they are more concerned with 
protecting millionaires, billionaires, hedge fund managers, and private 
jet owners than fighting for the middle class. They claim it is class 
warfare to ask the wealthiest 400 Americans who made an average, these 
400, of $271 million each to pay the same tax rate as librarians, 
police officers, air traffic controllers, and others--secretaries, as 
Mr. Buffett talked about.
  The truth is, Republicans are just defending the economic policies 
that besieged the middle class for years. It is class warfare to ask 
middle-class Americans to get by on less while those same 400 Americans 
are paying less than 18 percent in their taxes, lower than the 
secretaries and janitors who work for them.
  Let me explain this as well as I can. We will do whatever it takes to 
protect the middle class and seniors, even if it means the richest of 
the rich in America have to contribute a little bit more than they do 
now. We will fight for the policies that create American jobs even if 
it means CEOs and hedge fund managers making hundreds of millions of 
dollars every year have to contribute the same amount as teachers or 
firefighters, whose salaries are a fraction the size of theirs. It is 
simple fairness.
  With 14 million Americans out of work, we have 14 million reasons to 
put job creation ahead of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. 
As the economist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said:

       True patriotism isn't cheap. It's about taking on a fair 
     share of the burden of keeping America going.

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