Paul Tonko: “I think the people feel at risk when they believe that those who have this highest concentration of wealth have just so…”

“I think the people feel at risk when they believe that those who have this highest concentration of wealth have just so much influence on the outcome in Washington that it's unacceptable. And they now know who's paid the price. You know, the middle class, when given the opportunity, remains silent, or at least mildly content. When you take that away and you then involve this unjust outcome to impact them, then they get angry. So the outburst here is we need the investing. We want our children to have the opportunity to reach for the American Dream. It has always been the passion that drives this country. And when you talked about the global race on space during the JFK years, President Kennedy acknowledged up front we're going to do this, not because it's easy, but because it's hard. People know that these are tough decisions, but they also want to hear the commitment. They want to hear conviction. Are we going to support, are we going to be the underpinnings of human infrastructure, the development of a workforce, training, retraining, education, higher education; incentives that provide for research so you can be a land of discovery, a land of creating product line, of traveling into new spheres of influence that can just express the magnanimous quality of America and all she offers? When you suffocate those areas of potential, you're denying the middle class its chance at the American Dream. And that's what this is about.…”