[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15514]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ENTITLEMENT REFORM

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Entitlement reform 2012. Let's see. Wealthy Americans 
are entitled to tax breaks. Corporations are entitled to billions in 
giveaways. Arms manufacturers are entitled to bigger contracts. The 
poor and the middle class? Well, they're entitled to unemployment, 
underemployment, foreclosures, and cuts in both Social Security and 
Medicare.
  Poor and middle class Americans know all about the fiscal cliff. 
They've been getting pushed off it for years with an unfair tax system, 
unconscionable trade deals, and the Fed's monetary policies.
  Nearly 50 million people are in poverty in America, 12 million 
unemployed, millions more underemployed. On January 2, millions stand 
to lose unemployment benefits. Fourteen million Americans' mortgages 
are greater than the value of their homes.
  On the horizon loom massive cuts to essential services. Will the 
American austerity replace the American Dream? We need to turn back 
from the fiscal cliff with wealth creation, education, job creation, 
infrastructure rebuilding, monetary reform, trade reform, and 
protection of Social Security and Medicare. We need a great economic 
revival, not another Great Depression.

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