On the recordSeptember 11, 2012
I think, as Moody's indicated, with the fiscal cliff at the end of this year and with the sequestration on January 1, there really is only one place where this can get resolved, and it's right here in this room. There are ideas that are on the table which, I think, clearly show a middle ground--in fact, more than a middle ground--as a way of solving these problems. The President has put on the table an extension of the Bush tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans that would entirely protect their present tax status with no increase in taxes. Obviously, the cliff will cause middle class families all across America to pay more if there is no action in this Chamber. In fact, it provides for 100 percent of all Americans the extension of the Bush tax cuts on incomes up to $250,000. Any income above that would revert back to the Clinton era rates. That change would provide about $1 trillion of deficit reduction for our country at a time when the structural deficit that the Bush tax cuts created is obviously scaring investor services like Moody's. This is a proposal which is not a 50/50 deal. It's a 98 percent deal in terms of protecting those existing tax cuts, and it's a 100 percent deal in terms of protecting people's taxes up to $250,000.
