Sam Gejdenson: “I would like to just have a slight correction to my colleague in that these people do pay taxes, and they pay a lot of…”

“I would like to just have a slight correction to my colleague in that these people do pay taxes, and they pay a lot of taxes because they are at the bottom and their FICA taxes eat up a big portion of their earnings. The basic question is, what is the job of Congress? Under the Republican proposal, a family that makes $17,000 a year will lose a thousand dollars, and a billionaire corporation will pay lower taxes. It seems to me there can be arguments for lowering everybody's taxes, but a Congress that in the same product takes away a thousand dollars from a struggling family trying to eke out a living on less money than most people in this room spend on their vacations a year is a Congress that is not doing its job. The choices for people are clear, that at the bottom of the economic ladder in this country people still have to make a decision about clothing, feeding and providing health care for their children. We are debating whether we are going to provide health care to half the children out there without health care or none of them. We need to take care of those responsibilities first.”