Political Quotes

On the recordDecember 4, 2010
Mr. President, I rise today to contrast the Democratic plan, plan A, and the Republican plan, plan B, and what they mean for the working citizens of the United States of America. Let me start by talking about the Democratic plan, plan A. It is plan A because it is America's plan. Why is it America's plan? First, it benefits every single taxpayer in America. That is the first reason. Some of my colleagues across the aisle have liked to talk about how the Democratic plan only helps those who earn under $250,000, but that is because they are not paying attention or they are deliberately distorting the facts, because the Democratic plan provides a tax break on the first $250,000 regardless of what amount of money you make. So it helps every single American. The second is that the recent focus on citizens earning less than $250,000 is because it is the working citizens of the United States of America who have been getting the short end of the stick. The amount of money--the average income for workers in America plateaued in 1974. Now, that happens to be the year I graduated from high school. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of taking my son to his first day of high school, same high school I went to, exactly 40 years later. So for almost 40 years, the working wages for working Americans have been flat. But during that time period, the wealth of this country has increased enormously. The productivity of the American worker has increased enormously.…
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Jeff Merkley
Democratic · Oregon

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