Political Quotes

“I thank the former chairman of the Finance Committee. About a year ago, when it wasn't so clear at all that the earned- income tax credit, which, according to President Reagan and most Presidents of both parties since, has been the most effective tool to fight poverty in recent memory--I would also say Social Security and Medicare, of course--what the earned-income tax credit, coupled with the child tax credit, has done is it has rewarded work, helped people who are making $9, $10, $12 an hour, sometimes working two jobs--it has helped lift them out of poverty because they simply don't make enough money to be able to live a decent standard of living if they are making $9 an hour. When it wasn't at all clear that the earned-income tax credit wouldn't expire in the next couple of years, what Senator Wyden did, working with a number of us, was he negotiated and basically said: Sure, we want to do these business tax credits or business tax deductions because we think this will help our country grow, but we shouldn't give tax breaks to large businesses and leave workers behind. That is what this coalition did, was pretty much said to people here who haven't always thought much about low-income people--frankly, we work around here, and if you don't go out of your way to meet low- income people and you don't talk to them about their lives, if you are not in the cafeteria--those people are making way too little money, and people here don't know their names and all of that.…”