Dan Kildee: “We are at that time of the year when we are dealing with another set of budget decisions. A budget is supposed to be a…”

“We are at that time of the year when we are dealing with another set of budget decisions. A budget is supposed to be a demonstration of this Congress' and our Nation's values and priorities, a plan that helps lift people up and ensure that everyone, if you play by the rules, has got a fair shot at success. But budgets require tough choices. The Ryan budget, which passed out of committee yesterday, unfortunately chooses to make things more difficult for hardworking middle class Americans in order to subsidize big tax breaks to big oil companies, to multinational corporations, and to the wealthiest Americans. Yesterday, I introduced a very simple amendment to the Ryan budget in the Budget Committee, one that would simply say this: if you make more than $1 million, which is a very small percentage--97 percent of small business owners make less than that--you pay your fair share. Warren Buffett famously observed that he pays a lower tax rate than his own secretary. My amendment would have said, if you make over $1 million, you pay at least 30 percent. Unfortunately, that amendment failed on a party-line vote. I hope we have an opportunity to offer that amendment here on the floor, and I urge my colleagues, if they have the chance to do so, to support that. ____________________”