[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18431-18432]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRESS MUST WORK TOGETHER TO AVOID FALLING OFF THE FISCAL CLIFF

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, if we fail to act on the remaining day of 
the 112th Congress, this Congress will be remembered as one which 
ignored the will of the people. If we fail to act, a typical middle 
class family of four would see its taxes rise by $2,200 starting in 
2013. This means less money to buy groceries, gas and pay the bills.
  According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, going over 
the cliff would raise the unemployment rate from 7.9 percent to 9.1 
percent in 2013. Losing that many jobs would plunge our Nation back 
into a recession and put an economic recovery even further out of 
reach. We would be putting jobs on the altar for tax cuts for the 
wealthiest Americans who have already seen their tax rate plummet to 
historic lows.
  It's time that we put an end to the era of trying to balance budgets 
on the

[[Page 18432]]

backs of the middle class, and it's time that we take steps to avoid 
setting our economic recovery up for failure. We all want a better 
resolution than simply jumping off the fiscal cliff.

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