Political Quotes

“I rise to speak also about the tax cut proposal, about the debate on how to keep the economy going. I rise in great respect for my friend from Utah, who was successful in business, and lays out a prospective about how to keep the economy going. While I share his view that we need to be focused on a skilled workforce and that is critical to keeping our economy moving, he and I represent two different views of how best to do that. That is the debate going on in Washington now. I characterize it as a debate about whether or not the 1980s or the 1990s worked. I argue the bill that will come back--whether tonight, tomorrow, or next week--is a bill based on the notion that the economic policy of the 1980s worked. I argue from the Michigan standpoint, and anyone in Michigan, any families, businesses, farmers I represent, would indicate the 1980s were not a good time for Michigan. We had high unemployment, high interest rates. We saw massive debts both at the State and national level. It is the same kind of approach I fear will be happening today with the policies being laid out. No. 1 in the debate is how to give a tax cut. Is it supply side, as my colleague talked about? The proposal we are being asked to vote on is a very large tax cut, two-thirds to the upper income wage earners, those in the top 10 percent. And then we wait for it to trickle down. My folks in Michigan have been waiting for the tax cut of the 1980s to trickle down and hit their pocketbooks.”