On the recordFebruary 8, 2012
I thank my friend from New York for this opportunity. We got some welcome economic news last Friday that companies added about 250,000 private sector jobs. It's long overdue, and we hope and pray that it continues for many, many months to come. The country is coming back, but we have a very long way to go. I think one of the reasons why the country is coming back is because at the beginning of 2011, everybody who earned a wage in this country got a fairly substantial tax cut so that they would buy more in the stores and maybe eat a little bit in the restaurants and buy more goods and services. And I think that and some other things started to work. The worst thing that we could do would be to interrupt that recovery by failing to extend this tax relief for middle class Americans. I'm willing to take at face value that I think almost everyone in this House agrees with that proposition. And I think everyone agrees with the proposition that it would do great harm to our economy not to make this happen. Here is what I think stands in the way of where we are and where we need to get to: in any negotiation, you can't succeed by negotiation through ultimatum. There are some things that I really think ought to happen. I, frankly, think the way to pay for this is a very small tax surcharge on the very wealthiest Americans.…
