Carolyn Maloney: “I thank the gentleman for his leadership and for yielding. The Senate has gone home for Christmas. And just 5 minutes…”

“I thank the gentleman for his leadership and for yielding. The Senate has gone home for Christmas. And just 5 minutes before I came to this floor, the President made an announcement from the White House that he supported the bipartisan Senate compromise bill that passed the Senate 89-10. And we need to pass it and wrap up this Christmas present for the middle class. Instead of the pattern of obstruction that is constantly coming from the other side of the aisle, we should introduce the Senate bill here in the House and pass it for the American people. The House leadership should allow an up-or-down vote and extend the payroll tax cut, the unemployment benefits, and the doc fix for the middle class. Without this 2-month extension, 160 million Americans will face a tax hike starting January 1. The idea that it is somehow acceptable to let this happen is to be blind to the economic struggles that American middle class families are now facing and to be totally, totally deaf to the cries for help from the many people--the 2.2 million Americans--who will see their unemployment benefits expire if we do not pass the Senate bill. This is an exercise in rigid partisan ideology that will also result in an additional 48 million seniors being denied access to their doctors. No bill will make everybody happy.…”