Jon S. Corzine: “today I rise to speak out on a subject that is both timely and extremely important to the American people. A few hours…”

“today I rise to speak out on a subject that is both timely and extremely important to the American people. A few hours ago, the House of Representatives, showing an unimaginable indifference to the retirement security of American families, and further undermining the integrity of the Social Security trust fund, made permanent the tax cuts that were enacted last year. The bill they passed really frames a stark choice for the American people: Do we take payroll tax revenues that working people, working Americans, thought were being dedicated to the Social Security trust fund and use them instead to pay for this huge new tax cut, a tax cut that really goes to the wealthiest of Americans or should we be using Social Security revenues, payroll taxes, for their intended use, securing the Social Security trust fund for this and future generations? It is a pretty fundamental choice. It is pretty starkly laid out by the nature of the tax cut that was endorsed by the House Republicans today. It is a choice that will impact all Americans. I believe if Americans were asked, they might come up with a different answer. I think they would choose security, Social Security, not tax breaks that would take the security out of Social Security. I want to give one perspective. The tax cut that was implemented today in the House is about $400 billion more in the next decade, and 60 percent of that upcoming tax cut goes to those with incomes over $500,000. That is hard to believe.…”