Charles Rangel: “I really think that this President of the United States has singled out one of the most important issues that we as…”

“I really think that this President of the United States has singled out one of the most important issues that we as Americans face, and that is whether or not we are paying attention to hard-working Americans as relates to the burden of taxes that we placed on them. Our President saw fit to reach out and to recognize that in the House and Senate, Democrats did not win, but he won, and the Republicans won. To that extent, he thought he was pulling together a group to present to the American people a bipartisan agreement as to spending in the budget and in reducing taxes, and in providing assistance for American education. Somewhere along the line, when it got to taxes, our Republican colleagues forgot the bipartisanship, because to my knowledge, the Secretary Treasurer, representing the President, did not know what was in that package until the chairman released it. Notwithstanding that, there was great hope that during the process of amendment, that we might work out a bill that would lend itself for the President of the United States to say, it is not all that I wanted, it is not all the Democrats wanted, but it is the basis for us to move forward in a bipartisan way. Notwithstanding my feelings about it, I knew one thing was abundantly clear, that the American people did want and did deserve a bipartisan effort.”