Political Quotes

“I think it is important to explain why I and a number of us and many Americans think this is a bad agreement and that, in fact, we can do a lot better. Just a few points. No. 1, this country has a $13.8 trillion national debt. Our middle class is shrinking, and it is unconscionable to me that we are in the process of providing huge tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country to drive up the national debt, which our kids and grandchildren will have to pay off. I think that is absolutely wrong. During the Bush Presidency alone, the wealthiest 400 Americans saw their income more than double, while their income tax rates dropped almost in half from 1992 to 2007. The richest 400 Americans now earn, on average, $345 million a year and pay an effective tax rate of 16.6 percent. The bottom line is, given all the problems facing this country, lowering taxes for people who are extraordinarily wealthy, whose incomes are soaring, whose tax rates are going down, should not be a major priority of the Senate.”