On the recordDecember 20, 2011
I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me, and I rise in opposition to this rule. I have a challenge to my Republican colleagues who claim to want to extend the payroll tax for a year. Give us a clean vote on extending the payroll tax for a year. Give it to us today, and we will pass it. You talk about the bill that was passed in the House. That bill had poison pills in it. It mixed apples with oranges. It had a vote on the Keystone pipeline. It was designed to kill it. If you're serious and you really want a middle class tax extension, payroll tax cut, give us a clean vote. That's all we're asking for. The truth is that my friends on the other side of the aisle are interested in tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, but they're not interested in tax cuts for the middle class, as the Democrats are. So give us a clean bill, and then we'll call the Senate back to pass it. What the Senate has done is given us a 2-month breather. Let's take their 2- month breather and then pass a clean--a clean--doc fix, a clean extension of unemployment benefits, a clean payroll tax cut, not with any poison pills or extraneous materials destined to kill it. Give us a clean bill, and we'll pass it. I challenge my Republican colleagues who control this House.
