Chuck Schumer: “No, we are not going to take everybody's money in the estate tax. We are not even taking most people's money. We are not…”

“No, we are not going to take everybody's money in the estate tax. We are not even taking most people's money. We are not even taking 5 percent, the wealthiest 5 percent of people's money. We are taking only from people who have estates certainly over $1 million and probably somewhat more than that. That is how this debate often gets off track. We are not saying to the plumber who built up a little business: We are taking your money. We are not saying to the steelworker who has a pension: We are taking your money. Yes, we are saying to the very wealthiest: God bless America, you have made a great living, you have lived well. Are you willing, in this social compact we call America, to tell the senior citizen who can't afford to pay for these drugs, and it is life or death, that you have to keep it all--and not even keep it all, pass it all on to your heirs? That is the issue.”