On the recordDecember 16, 2010
Our families are hanging by threads-- literally--as we debate this tonight. We know the economic wreckage that occurred between 2001 and 2008. Double unemployment, flat wages, and unbridled greed. We didn't do a very good job in correcting the problem in the second 2 years since we took over, no question about it. So these are perilous times. And I say to my friend from Arizona, both sides agree. We need extraordinary remedies in extraordinary times. Ordinarily, your side and our side would vote against this legislation because it's not paid for. But these are not ordinary times. You have said in the past ``no'' to tax relief that every American, even billionaires, could take advantage of, if an extra 2,800 estates don't get a massive tax break at a cost of $60 billion. We had an agreement on the estate tax. H.R. 4151 provided a $7 million exemption for families, affecting less than 0.02 percent of the country. That wasn't good enough. So when the negotiations over the next tax relief for America's middle class started, opponents saw the chance. They decided to take the middle class hostage, agree with the tax relief for all of America, only if 2,800 additional estates worth over $7 million were also provided billions more in tax relief. The truth of the matter is that I don't know any working class families that own estates worth over $7 million. Maybe you do in your district.
