[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18019]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 PLAN B

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to start out today with a little 
context.
  For more than a year, President Obama and Democrats in Congress have 
known, as well as I have, that every single taxpayer is scheduled to 
get slammed with an automatic tax hike on January 1, and for an entire 
year, they have been running out the clock.
  Think about it. For President Obama, there is no better outcome than 
for taxes to go up on absolutely everybody. Why do I say that? Why does 
the President want taxes to go up on absolutely everybody? Because, 
frankly, that is the only way to pay for the big government this 
President wants. You have to raise taxes on everybody--the super-rich, 
the rich, the middle class, the lower class--you name it. Everybody has 
to have a tax increase because if all you do is whack the so-called 
rich, you only get enough money for about a week of government. If all 
you do is whack the super-rich, you only get enough money for about a 
week of government. So let's be clear about this matter. He wants to 
soak everybody, and there is only one way to do it, and that is exactly 
what he gets if we do nothing.
  If that wasn't obvious before this week, it should be perfectly 
obvious now. Here we are less than a week before Christmas, and what is 
the President doing? What is his quarterback here in the Senate, the 
majority leader, doing? They have been playing Lucy and the football 
with the American people for months. They have said no to every single 
proposal that has been offered to avoid this tax hike, including their 
own. They are running out the clock, moving the goalposts, sitting on 
their hands. They aren't doing anything.
  Well, I say enough. Enough. The time for games is over. The President 
may want to soak the American people to fund his vision of a social 
welfare state, but we are not going to let him do it.
  Later today Republicans in the House will pass a bill that protects 
more than 99 percent--99 percent--of Americans from the tax hike 
Democrats want to slap them with within 2 weeks. The House bill will 
protect 99 percent of America's taxpayers from the tax hike that is 
coming in 2 weeks.
  As I have said endlessly, we don't want to see taxes go up on anybody 
or anything. The problem isn't that government taxes too little, it is 
that it spends too much. The problem isn't that government taxes too 
little, it is that it spends too much.
  But the President is determined to leap off the cliff. Well, we are 
not going to let him take the middle class with him. We are going to do 
everything we can to protect the American people from this scheme.
  There is no reason in the world that Democrats actually shouldn't 
join us. I have literally a book of quotes from Democrats saying they 
want to protect the middle class.
  It was the theme of the recently completed campaign. Well, here is 
your chance. We are at the end of the line. We have one chance to put 
your money where your mouth is and that is by voting on the bill the 
House sends over later today.
  It will be, obviously, up to the majority leader to act. Will the 
majority leader act to protect the American taxpayers? Will he sit on 
his hands and do absolutely nothing? Will the Senate just sit back and 
watch the tax rates go up or will the Senate act? Enough is enough. 
Let's get this done. Let's show the American people we are working on 
their behalf. It is time to act to prevent this tax increase on 99 
percent of America's taxpayers.
  I yield the floor.

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