[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10509-10510]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Senate will consider legislation 
calling on millionaires and billionaires to contribute to this 
country's effort to reduce our deficit. The poor, the middle class, 
children, and seniors have already been asked to make sacrifices to 
help get our fiscal house in order. This legislation would reaffirm the 
Senate's commitment to ensuring the extremely wealthy are asked to make 
similar sacrifices. This principle that all Americans should contribute 
their fair share as we work together to reduce the deficit is so common 
sense it should go without saying. Yet Republicans boast of their 
opposition of having the very affluent not pay their fair share. This 
is the simple, straightforward statement by my Republican colleagues. 
Listen to this:

       . . . any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should 
     require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a 
     more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.

  My Republican colleagues reject that. Democrats believe all 
Americans, even those who can afford private jets and yachts, should 
contribute to the collective effort to reduce the deficit. The question 
is, Why aren't Republicans willing to do the same? They say it is 
because they are looking out for the people. That claim is ridiculous. 
This claim is without foundation, which is preposterous. Let's talk 
about the millionaires and billionaires Republicans are determined to 
protect above all else. Less than one-quarter of 1 percent of tax 
returns filed in the United States each year belong to the people 
making more than $1 million--25 percent of 1 percent, one-quarter 
percent of 1 percent. These same people are the 1 percent of Americans 
who control 50 percent of this country's wealth. We are speaking of the 
Warren Buffetts of the world. Warren Buffett is my friend. I have great 
respect and admiration for him, but he is extremely wealthy. What does 
Warren Buffett, who is the second or third richest man in the world, 
say about contributing his fair share? He welcomes it. In fact, Mr. 
Buffett criticized the system in which his secretary gives a greater 
share of her income to the government each year than a man worth more 
than $50 billion. Here he says: ``If you're the luckiest 1 percent of 
humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 
99 percent.''
  That is what he said. That is what Warren Buffett said about 
contributing his fair share.
  Since the late 1970s, incomes for the lucky 1 percent of America have 
risen by 281 percent. The last three decades have been very good to the 
very wealthy. President George W. Bush called these people the haves 
and have-mores. He also called them his base. Right now, the Republican 
Party is putting what is good for this very small base ahead of what is 
very good for this great Nation.
  The legislation before us asks only this: that each American be part 
of the solution rather than part of the problem. In poll after poll, 
Americans have endorsed this principle. They have said they believe we 
must address our deficit both by reducing spending and by

[[Page 10510]]

ending tax breaks to the wealthiest citizens and corporations. We have 
heard them. Democrats have heard them. If Warren Buffett chooses to buy 
a private jet or a whole fleet of them, that is OK, but the American 
taxpayer should not give him a special tax break for buying his own jet 
airplane.
  Our country is facing a crisis. We face mounting debt brought on by a 
decade of war and tax breaks for the wealthy. We face the prospect that 
Republicans will force us to default on our financial obligations for 
the first time in our Nation's history. Difficult choices must be made. 
Together, we should consider cutting programs to help real people in 
very real ways. Eliminating tax breaks for oil companies making record 
profits, corporations that ship jobs overseas, and the owners of 
private jets and yachts should be an easy part of this problem to 
solve. Yet Republicans walked away from the negotiating table when a 
solution was in sight because they said no to fairness. Democrats had 
already agreed to trillions in difficult cuts in order to prevent a 
default crisis and avert a worldwide depression. Then Republicans 
walked away from the table to help the 1 percent of Americans fortunate 
enough to not need any extra help.
  How do Republicans explain that to their constituents back home? Very 
carefully. Why? Because as middle-class families struggle to make ends 
meet, my Republican colleagues are risking the financial future of this 
country and the world for the sake of people who can afford private 
jets and yachts. I cannot imagine that conversation. Asking 
millionaires and billionaires to contribute to solving this Nation's 
deficit crisis is not unreasonable. It is just plain common sense and 
simple fairness.
  We are going to have a vote in just 20 minutes or so, and probably 
what my Republican colleagues will do is to vote to allow us to 
proceed. That would be great if there was some sense that they agreed 
with what we are trying to do; that is, that they want the millionaires 
and billionaires to contribute their fair share. But as we know, the 
rules will only allow us to move to the next step and actually be on 
the bill. So when we get on the bill, I would tell everyone here, if we 
can work on an agreement to have some fixed amendments and work on it, 
I would be happy to do that. It is how we used to do things around 
here.
  But if this means a free-for-all and offering amendments on abortion 
and war fighting and all this kind of stuff, we can't do that. We need 
to devote these next few weeks to debate dealing with the deficit 
problems we have in this country, and they are significant.

                          ____________________