On the recordJuly 25, 2012
I come to the floor to discuss a wholly predictable and foreseeable economic disaster. I ask why the Senate continues to waste valuable time while we continue barrelling toward a fiscal cliff. In a little more than 5 months, the current tax rates are scheduled to expire for every single American, resulting in the largest tax increase in history. It is hard to imagine this massive tax increase is what the President wants. Just 2 years ago, he warned that we absolutely should not raise taxes in a poor economy. Yet today the economy is actually in worse shape. So what does the President do? He calls for raising taxes on job creators, on small business owners filing as individuals, on investment income, on all those things that actually drive economic prosperity and hiring. Their favorite talking point claims that all those making more than $250,000 should just be taxed more. While those families reporting income of more than $250,000 may only make up about 2 percent of all tax returns, it is these citizens who are the owners of small businesses that employ 25 percent of America's workforce. These are the same small business owners that created two-thirds of the net jobs in the last decade. I hear from small business owners in Nebraska every day, and they tell me if faced with a more expensive tax bill, they will be forced to cut costs elsewhere.…





