It is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).

I remind my friend from Texas that according to all reports, last month 43 States registered a decrease in unemployment, the first time that's happened since the year 2003. With that, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from…

I yield myself an additional 30 seconds. Now, the only way for us to really instill certainty in the unemployed and in those 160,000 million Americans who would like to continue to have their tax cut is for us to pass the Senate compromise…

It is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi).

I thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this outrageously partisan and unfair bill. The clock is ticking; working families are worrying; and my Republican friends are…

In 1986, a Republican President and a Democratic Congress found common ground and came to a bipartisan agreement.

The impact, reducing the unemployment. If you were to drop unemployment from 9.1 to, say, 8.6, can you give us some idea of what impact that would have on the deficit?

I would very much like to see that.

What would it do to those communities and those people if we were to reduce this deficit only by cuts that have been proposed?

if we were do it, let's do a $1.5 trillion deficit reduction and let's do it on the backs of those same people.

if we continue current policy, then it is fair to say that we are going to experience that kind of continued widening of the wealth gap in America

And then it was declared that deficits don't matter. This special committee was created because deficits and debt do matter.

So there is a correlation.

If we had a decrease in unemployment of just, say, 0.5 percent--from 9.1 to 8.6--what would be the level of revenue increase?

Instead of building on the policies that have served us so well, we embarked upon two wars, one of which was dubious at best.

If we want to solve the related problems of debt and joblessness, we need to know how these problems arose.

is it class warfare to seek some equity in the Tax Code?

We created a new prescription drug benefit program, which CBO estimates will cost $967 billion over the next 10 years.

it is unfair that wages are often taxed at a higher rate than investments.

So it is a double whammy.

it is unfair that a number of top corporations who are making record profits pay more to their CEOs than they do in taxes.

isn't it true that every major economy with which the United States competes really funds their government through consumption taxes?

Well, just let me say, to be certain, I am just as concerned as my good friend Senator Kyl is about fraud and abuse.

it is unfair that the wealthiest among us get the most tax breaks.

Do you agree that a VAT is a viable option?