Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to speak about an issue we will be voting on today and we have been discussing and debating now for a number of days. We are into our second week of debate about a cut in the payroll tax. Just by way of review--and so many Americans have been following this debate--here is where it basically stands between what we did last year and what we are trying to do this year. Last year, as part of a larger tax bill, we reduced the payroll tax for employees across the country from 6.2 percent to 4.2. So that 2- percent reduction meant millions of American families were able to have about $1,000 in their pocket of take-home pay they wouldn't have had otherwise absent that action in the tax bill. What we are trying to do this year--and I should start with what I tried to do last week, and we got 51 votes for this--is to say we should not only continue or extend that cut in the payroll tax but we should expand it. So instead of saying it should go from 6.2 to 4.2, we take it down to 3.1. In essence, what we tried to do last week was cut in half the payroll taxes that relate to employees. We wanted to add to that cutting in half the payroll tax for small businesses, and they would benefit disproportionately. Thirdly, we wanted to add to that a tax credit so that if an employer hired or increased wages for employees, if an employer expands their payroll in one of several ways, they can get a tax credit equal to an elimination of the payroll tax.…”