Jerry Moran: “I'll never forget the day that we voted for the Clinton tax rates. We were told by all of the Republicans that this was…”

“I'll never forget the day that we voted for the Clinton tax rates. We were told by all of the Republicans that this was going to cause massive job losses, an unbalanced budget, and drive us into recession. And not one Republican voted with us. Well, we know exactly what happened: More than 20 million new jobs were created; we had the lowest level of poverty, the highest expansion of the middle class, three straight budget surpluses, and the people at the highest tax rates took home more after-tax income than at any time in American history. It worked. And we had over $5.6 trillion in surplus projected over the now past decade. Then when the Republicans took power again, what happened? Immediately they cut taxes--but not across the board--in a way designed primarily to benefit the wealthy. That's why the top 1 percent have 42 percent of this Nation's wealth; while the bottom 90 percent have 26 percent, the greatest income disparity ever. This is a manufactured crisis, Mr. Speaker. Do what Alan Greenspan recommended: Go back to the Clinton tax rates; balance the budget; pay for the wars; pay for tax cuts; pay for expansion of Medicare; meet your obligations; don't manufacture crises; and don't drive us to deadlines when the whole world is watching and wondering if we are serious about governing the world's strongest economy. ____________________”