Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Senator from Rhode Island spoke about the 10th anniversary of the George W. Bush tax cuts. These were tax cuts that primarily benefitted the wealthiest people in America, and we recently renewed them. There was a decision made that to keep the economy moving forward we were not going to raise taxes, even on the wealthiest people. But it is worth reflection for a moment about what happened when we cut the taxes 10 years ago. The promise then is the same promise we now hear from the other side of the aisle: If you will cut taxes on the wealthiest people in America, our economy will flourish. Well, it turns out that was not the case at all. In fact, what happened is that we saw the economy suffer. Ten years ago, President Bush signed into law the first massive tax cut. He said that this tax relief would create jobs. The month the first Bush tax cuts were signed into law, in June of 2001, the American economy had 132 million jobs-- 132 million jobs. Three years later, we were down to 131.4 million. Cutting taxes for the wealthiest people in America was not a job stimulator. The economy lost jobs in the 3 years following the Bush tax cuts. Over his 8 years in office, job growth under President Bush was 4.8 percent, compared to 16.2 percent under President Clinton. Before I defer to my colleague from Vermont, I will tell you one other fact that is worth noting. First, when President Clinton left office and President George W.…”