Political Quotes

“My colleague asks an excellent question. It has not worked. Unemployment is higher today with these tax cuts in effect than it was before they went into effect. We have had the slowest job growth in this decade even before the recession with these so-called breaks for the wealthy in effect. Let's go back a decade. The tax rate was, for the wealthiest, at 40 percent. We are not talking about a huge increase here; we are talking about the difference between 35 and 39.6. But during that time, jobs were created at a much more rapid rate, No. 1; No. 2, middle-class incomes expanded at a quicker rate than they did in this decade; and No. 3, we had a surplus, not a deficit. The bottom line is very simple: The tax cuts for the wealthy did not work. The tax cuts for the wealthy did not work. They may have their ideological reasons to give them, but I would rather see that money go not only for unemployment insurance--and I will talk later about this-- but also for the HIRE Act, which gives breaks to businesses, where they do not have to pay the payroll tax if they hire someone who is unemployed; for energy tax credits, which my colleague from New Mexico will talk about; and for all kinds of different activities that have been proven to work. I know my colleague from New Mexico is waiting, but I will once more read the headline from Newsweek, an article by Ben Adler, ``Republicans Hold Senate Ransom for Rich Tax Cut.'' How do you like that, America?…”