On the recordAugust 1, 2012
I've never been so fortunate in this House to have the Republicans state the argument as clearly as they have this afternoon, and I think Wally Herger said it. It is possible that we're not talking about a tax cut. People working every day trying to make ends meet, they don't know the wonderful tax cut that they are enjoying, but you bet your life if we don't come together, if we don't reach agreement, they'll understand what a tax hike is. That's exactly what's going to happen to 98 percent of the tax-paying people of this great country. Taxpayers, who work every day, who raise their families, who buy from the local merchants that keep small business alive, are going to find out, probably too late, that the Republican Party says you don't deserve the lower tax rate. Then they may ask: What's holding this up if everyone agrees that they should have it? We're going to have to explain to the middle class what the Republicans are explaining to us: that somehow we are to believe that less than 2 percent of the population is creating the jobs and really supporting the economy. I don't know where they've been or how they're going to come back, but they haven't been creating jobs, and they haven't been spending and investing money. Even if there was a controversy, why the heck are we holding hostage 98 percent of the people?…
