Debbie Dingell: “yet again I stand here perplexed by the actions of my Republican colleagues. Will they never cease to amaze me? Perhaps…”

“yet again I stand here perplexed by the actions of my Republican colleagues. Will they never cease to amaze me? Perhaps one day I will realize that there are no lengths my colleagues on the other side of the aisle won't go to in order to help their fat cat buddies. I would note that the wealthiest one percent of the population will receive half of the benefits from this extension. The wealthiest one percent! I ask you, Mr. Speaker, do the wealthiest one percent of our population need our help? I think not. Based on the most recent CBO estimates, permanently extending last year's ridiculous tax cuts will increase the deficit by another $374 billion through 2012. Mr. Speaker, just over a year ago, I stood in this very spot and urged my colleagues to vote against the Republicans' ill conceived tax scheme. Here we are, one year later and already back in deficit spending. Because of these absurd tax cuts and the Republican budget, we are taking $1.5 trillion out of the Social Security Trust Fund over the next 10 years. Mr. Speaker, the most simple laws of math dictate that we cannot carry out our priorities, Democratic or Republican, with this scheme. It is critical that we pass a Medicare prescription drug benefit and address the dramatically rising cost of Social Security as the baby boomers retire. Where will we get the money? How will we pay for homeland security and the President's war on terrorism?”