Gwen Moore: “My only proposal was to have a more generous phase-in. If you are going to require people to work, why not allow them to…”

“My only proposal was to have a more generous phase-in. If you are going to require people to work, why not allow them to have 40 percent of the credit after the first $2,500 of income. That way, someone who was working and trying to meet all of the program requirements, a TANF recipient, could go to work and feel some dignity--as they claim that you get--some dignity going to work, making work pay. They go and do their 20 hours, and they are able to have time to deal with their children and help them with their homework. {time} 1130 They get the earned income tax credit. They are playing by the rules, and all we do is just move the goal post further and further away. Under this bill you cannot work your way out of poverty, and we are going to make sure you stay there. Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. You hit all of the points on this. Look, you just said it, children and families with zero to $2,500 in earnings get nothing--get nothing. Corporations who have avoided any kind of a tax liability get everything that they ask for, and the business community and the corporations put the red lines down, and when we had our red lines, they got blurred, and we walked backward, and we gave them everything they wanted. We made it retroactive. We said go for it, take it--laying the groundwork for next year.…”