Ron Kind: “today the Committee on Ways and Means is going to consider an $80 billion tax cut, and supporters are admitting that we…”

“today the Committee on Ways and Means is going to consider an $80 billion tax cut, and supporters are admitting that we will use part of the so-called budget surplus to pay for it. There are three things that the people in America get that some people here in this Chamber just do not get: First, there is no real budget surplus, not unless you want to raid the Social Security trust fund, not unless you want to collect payroll taxes from working families and transfer that money into the pockets of other people in this country. Secondly, this tax package not only spends the Social Security trust fund, but it also prevents us from starting to pay back the $5.5 trillion national debt. Finally, there is no guarantee that any of this so-called surplus is going to materialize given the international financial crisis that we are in today. This tax cut is wrong for our seniors, it is wrong for our children, and supporters just do not get it. We must protect Social Security, we must start paying back the national debt and we must oppose fiscally irresponsible election-year tax cuts that are not paid for honestly.”