[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18258-18259]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUTS

  Mr. REID. The Senate Democrats' No. 1 priority of this Congress is to 
pass commonsense legislation; for example, tax cuts and infrastructure 
investments, all these ideas we have to put Americans back to work and 
revive our economy. The Republicans in the House, on the other hand, 
are focused on gutting the safeguards to keep our air clean, make 
workplaces safe, and check the greed of big Wall Street firms.
  Never mind that wholesale destruction of measures which save millions 
of lives and trillions of dollars each year have no chance of passing. 
Never mind that nonpartisan experts and economists on both sides of the 
aisle say the so-called jobs agenda will not create a single job. House 
Republicans have complained we have not taken up and passed these 
policies, which would risk American lives while doing nothing to 
improve our economy. They insist we should waste weeks or months on 
legislation that is both dangerous and proven to fail.
  But the Senate has too much work to do on legislation that would 
create jobs without risking American lives to waste time on these 
ineffectual, purely partisan measures. Our jobs agenda was designed to 
create jobs, not headlines.
  In any case, the Senate has passed its own share of legislation--40 
pieces, in fact--that have yet to be taken up by the House Republican 
leaders. The Senate has passed legislation that would stop China from 
cheating American workers by manipulating its currency, evening the 
playing field for American exporters and saving jobs.
  We passed a bill to modernize the air travel system. The FAA 
reauthorization is so important, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs 
but would also keep passengers safer and save money on travel time.
  We passed a measure that would protect lives by keeping our foods 
safe from contamination. The House Republicans are refusing to take up 
these, period. The House Republicans blocked many reasonable jobs 
proposals with a proven track record of success. They are simply too 
busy rooting for our economy to fail and pursuing an extreme social 
agenda to work with Democrats to create jobs. That will not stop the 
Democrats from doing everything in our power to get the economy back on 
track. That is why Senator Casey has worked to put money back into the 
pockets of middle-class workers and small businesses by extending and 
expanding the payroll tax cut.
  This legislation cuts taxes for 160 million American workers, saving 
the average family $1,500 each year. Those families will have more 
money to spend on their local economy, grocery stores, pharmacies, and 
giving communities across the country a financial shot in the arm.
  The proposal would give payroll tax cuts to businesses, including 
50,000 businesses in Nevada. More than 1.2 million Nevada workers would 
benefit from the payroll tax cut this year. Under our proposal, they 
will get even greater tax relief next year.
  Payroll tax cuts have been a boon to the economy in every State in 
the Nation. In Kentucky, for example, the home of my friend the 
minority leader, 2.1 million workers took home $1.2 billion in payroll 
tax cuts this year alone.

[[Page 18259]]

That is why the minority leader said in 2009 that a payroll tax cut 
``would put a lot of money back in the hands of businesses and in the 
hands of individuals.'' The average Kentucky family will keep $1,330 of 
their hard-earned money next year under our expanded payroll tax 
credit, and 70,000 firms in Kentucky will benefit from these tax cuts.
  Senator McConnell said in 2009: ``Republicans, generally speaking, 
from Maine to Mississippi, like tax relief.'' Yet the Republicans 
already appear poised to block this legislation.
  Let's be clear on what a ``no'' vote on this proposal means. It is a 
vote to deny tax relief to millions of businesses. It is a vote to 
raise taxes for 120 million families by nearly $1,000. The Republicans 
who vote no will literally be taking money out of the pockets of 
middle-class families.
  Once upon a time, Republicans rushed to cut taxes, regardless of 
which tax cut it was and whether it added trillions to the deficit. For 
example, the Bush tax cuts that we hear so much about added trillions 
of dollars to our deficit--and it is obvious what was going on during 
the Bush cuts--and now these tax cuts have not created jobs that amount 
to anything. Today, they are lining up against a new tax cut, my 
Republican friends, to put money back in the pockets of the middle 
class, ensure that businesses have more cash to hire new workers and 
get our economy moving immediately.
  I hope Republicans will now start working with us to pass a tax cut 
for 160 million American workers and nearly every business in America. 
As my friend the Republican leader said: ``Republicans, generally 
speaking, from Maine to Mississippi, like tax relief.'' I hope they 
remember what the Republican leader said time and time again.
  Will the Chair announce the business for the day.

                          ____________________