Kendrick Meek: “it is my pleasure to say to the House today that I am voting today to sustain the Presidential veto, and I would like to…”

“it is my pleasure to say to the House today that I am voting today to sustain the Presidential veto, and I would like to ask my Republican friends to refrain from putting Presidential politics into this issue. This issue is extremely important. We have the lives of people who need Medicare, people who need Social Security. The vast majority of working families do not need us to cut funds away now for a tax break for the very, very rich. Two percent of the population will benefit from this tax. I am saying to this Congress and to America, it is time now that we talked about people who need Social Security, people who need Medicare. The repeal of the Federal estate tax benefits a relatively small number of individuals. We have got to begin to think about the entire American public. What about the rest of us? What about those of us who are on low and middle incomes who need better schools? You keep talking about better education. Let us put your money where your mouth is. You keep using political nuances. We must solve the problems of this country. We need less crowded schools; we need an increase in minimum wage. There are so many things we need before we take all of the money off the top for 2 percent of the wealthy.”