Gerald Kleczka: “the fact of the matter is, 98 percent of those who might be in the gallery will pay the additional income taxes to make…”

“the fact of the matter is, 98 percent of those who might be in the gallery will pay the additional income taxes to make up for this loss. Where are we as a country? Two years ago we were awash in surplus, and we were told by my Republican friends that as far as the eye can see, we will have surpluses. These same folks have tax-cutted this country back into a deficit. This year we are looking at a $300 billion deficit. As we all know, this country is on a war footing, a war on terrorism. We just passed a bill last week for $29 billion for the military and other homeland security items. Is now the time to repeal the tax paid by the 2 percent wealthiest of this country? Should they not help us with the war effort? They are the beneficiaries. Not you. The Cabinet of the current administration will see a windfall of millions of dollars if we take this bad action today. I ask my colleagues to defeat this measure. Quit kidding the American people and saying that this applies to everyone. The fact is 2 percent.”