[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 261]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         FUTURE OF MIDDLE CLASS

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, the State of the Union address tonight 
is going to be very important, and I agree with President Obama that 
this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and those trying to 
reach it.
  And what's at stake is the very survival of the basic American 
promise that if you work hard, you can do well enough to raise a 
family, own a home, and put a little bit away for retirement. We can 
either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do 
really well while more Americans barely get by, or we can build a 
Nation where everyone gets a fair shot, he says, everyone does their 
fair share and everyone plays by the same rules.
  We found out today that, especially when it comes to taxes, there 
really are different rules for the rich. Mitt Romney released his 
taxes. He made $42 million over the last 2 years and paid at about a 
14.5 percent rate because most of his income is in capital gains.
  Look at the tax brackets. If you make $8,500 as a single person, 
you're in a 15-percent tax bracket. Is that fair? I don't think so.

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