Roy Blunt: “we are here today as part of an effort to really help working families. We need to work together. There are people on…”

“we are here today as part of an effort to really help working families. We need to work together. There are people on both sides of the aisle that want to help working families. Let us not get confused by the calculations that are being used to determine whether people are rich or not. We know whether people work or not, we know whether they pay taxes or not. Americans would be amazed to find out that the calculations that are being used to determine their wealth include the rental value of their home. If they own their home or are making payments on their home, the payment on their home is less than their home would rent for. Suddenly, they get a big rental value added to their income. Those things that their employer may have given them as benefits are added to their income. More than half of the family incomes of teachers, of construction workers, of mechanics would be classified as rich if we calculate family income the way the White House wants to. We cannot do that. Let us be fair, let us work with each other, let us help working families make ends meet.”