On the recordDecember 16, 2010
I would like to make sure that we classify this not as class warfare, if you will, but a Good Samaritan waving the flag. And, frankly, if we take the best of America and recognize that working people need help, the unemployment insurance that is part of this bill is a valid part of it. The child tax credit, the payroll holiday, all of those speak to the vision of this Nation that we have the willingness to share. We understand when men and women on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan, they fight not for any one class or any one community. They fight for America. So when we provide an estate tax that blurs the understanding of America, that we need an estate tax that is $5 million and $10 million, we're not telling the truth. The present law provides for most Americans, $3.5 million for an individual, $7 million for those who are couples; provides for family businesses; it provide for farmers. It works--and it has worked. It is not necessarily the best. But to give $25 billion to $28 billion unnecessarily that would go and take away from education and Social Security and Medicare, domestic spending that is necessary, is a crime. So this is not about fighting against someone who has a few more dollars than the next person. It's to do what we're sent here to do and make sure that the capitalistic system works for everybody, including those who are now unemployed. Let's get our senses together. Let's get the Senate to understand what the real deal is.
