Bill Pascrell: “In just a few hours, the President of the United States will be on the floor to present his ideas as to how we can grow…”

“In just a few hours, the President of the United States will be on the floor to present his ideas as to how we can grow our economy and put the American people back to work. I hope the majority keeps an open mind and rejects the extreme ideology and political timidness that has driven the 112th Congress of the United States. Need I remind my friend from New York State, need I remind him that the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, as we move into this next decade, are the biggest cause and the biggest proportion of the deficit facing this Congress. And you are not going to--you are not going to nickel and dime us to solve the problem of the deficit on the backs of the middle class and the working poor. It doesn't work. You can't figure it out. While the economic indicators are showing pretty good improvements, the unemployment rate in my home State of New Jersey is still 9.1 percent, above the national average of 8.5. Because of games played by the extreme wing of the Republican Party, the payroll tax cut that President Obama and the Democratic Congress support is at risk of expiring again. Now, I can't say any clearer than this: $1,000 may not be a lot for millionaires like Mitt Romney paying a 13.9 percent tax rate, but it is a significant amount of money directly in the pockets of middle class families in north Jersey. You don't have to look far to see where we are still hurting. Just last month, Mr.…”