Tom Harkin: “We are saying to the poorest in our country: We are going to take you back to 1986. I have a modest proposal. Why don't…”

“We are saying to the poorest in our country: We are going to take you back to 1986. I have a modest proposal. Why don't we take our Tax Code and move it back to 1986? Whatever people were paying in taxes, we will move everything back to then. How would the most comfortable in our society, the wealthiest, the richest, like that? I rather doubt that that would be something you would ever accomplish around here. Yet for the poorest people in our country, we can take them back to 1986. I have been here 30 years. I have never seen anything like this: 170,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina; in Texas, 72,000 evacuees have been served by this program; in Louisiana, more than 43,000 hurricane victims. Almost all the community action agencies in the impacted area were up and running by the second day after the storm. They were finding shelter, feeding people, clothing people, getting them medical attention. Now they are helping victims find employment. Community action agencies have been actively working with faith-based organizations all across the gulf coast to provide relief services. I mentioned what the mayor of Baton Rouge said. He was up here wanting to get more money for community services block grants. What does he get hit in the face with? Not only are you not getting more, they are cutting you in half. He couldn't believe it. Nationwide, this cut would eliminate or disrupt essential services for some 6.5 million low-income people, including nearly 2 million children.…”