On the recordJuly 12, 2011
And my colleagues, last week, I tried to point out that there was a serious meeting going on in the White House last weekend between the President and our congressional leaders to point out that we were facing a serious crisis and that we had to do something to make certain that the President felt sure that we would increase the debt ceiling and that we would make certain that we did stop this unnecessary spending. And of course the question of revenues has always been a part of the debate. What I was trying to do was to point out that on one side it appeared the issue was that we shouldn't tax those people that created jobs--and these are people, as people have pointed out, who are the wealthiest corporations that have record profits, and of course the wealthy that have really had the lowest tax rates and have received more money in the last decade than in the history of the country. And I was really trying to say that, since the vulnerable and the poor did not have any lobbyists or voices to debate this issue, that when we talk about entitlements, that when we talk about Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, these are not just political labels. The Medicaid, of course we're talking about the vulnerable, the poor, and those who are sick. Medicare, we're talking about the aged that need help. I was also pointing out that, unfortunately, Social Security has become the main income for so many Americans.…
