Gerald Kleczka: “What my Republican colleagues are not telling us about is the other half of the bill. Fifty percent of the cost of this…”

“What my Republican colleagues are not telling us about is the other half of the bill. Fifty percent of the cost of this bill goes to the people that were referred to before, Shad and his family from Illinois; and that is the part that all of us agree with. If the bill before us did that and solely did that, 435 Members of Congress would vote yes today; and the President would sign the bill this evening. What they fail to tell us about is the other half of the bill, which has nothing to do with marriage penalty. Mr. Speaker, understand that 50 percent of the benefits of this bill go to couples who do not pay a marriage penalty at all. So let's not call it a marriage penalty relief bill if they are getting it and they are not paying it. Call it a tax relief bill for the upper income, because if we look at the cost of the bill, almost 80 percent goes to the highest income wage earners in this country. I have no problem with them doing it that way, but then call it that and sell it that way.”