On the recordDecember 20, 2011
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Don't blame Congress for not working together; blame the House Republicans who can't even work with each other. The one and only reason this House of Representatives is not voting for the bipartisan Senate bill to provide relief to middle class taxpayers, seniors, and disabled people on Medicare and jobless Americans is because it would pass. That's right. The Republican scam was to bring up the bill supported by 90 percent of the Senate and then kill it. But on the way to this slaughter, a funny thing happened. Sensible Republicans basically said: You want me to vote to abandon millions of middle class Americans without the help they need this holiday season? No way. So the sanctimonious rhetoric you hear today from the Republicans is nothing but talk, baby talk. If they don't get their way exactly, then they won't play. What they're saying to millions of Americans, saying, Happy Hanukkah to middle class Americans who are lighting the first candle tonight and won't get their $1,000 tax break; Happy New Year to our seniors and people with disabilities who may lose their doctor; Merry Christmas to the jobless Americans desperate for work, looking for work, who barely survive on their unemployment checks. The House Republicans are the grinches who stole your Christmas.
