Restore the American Dream

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANDSMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for hosting tonight.

It is crystal clear that people are frustrated. They are frustrated with politics. They are frustrated with the economy, and they want costs down and an economy that is built for working people, the middle class, and our small businesses. I think it is really important for us to have this conversation and to start with the reality.

The reality is that the system is rigged, and it has been rigged for decades. It works for the superwealthy while everyone else is left behind, facing higher prices and a tax system that helps the rich get richer.

This started in the 1980s with huge tax giveaways to the wealthy while gutting oversight and regulations.

The result is that the system is producing the outcomes it was designed to produce. The top 1 percent in the United States now holds 12 times the wealth of the bottom half of American households. That is what this system produced.

Think about that: 1 percent of Americans own more wealth than half of all American families combined.

When people look at their bank accounts, they are frustrated and when they get their grocery bill and their tax bill and they are wondering where all their money went, they know. They see on their phones and on the news how rich the rich have gotten. That is where their money has gone.

The superwealthy and powerful have seized more and more of our money and more and more of our power.

Let me say that again: The superwealthy and powerful have seized more and more of our money and more and more of our power.

Since the pandemic, billionaires have become $3 trillion richer. Their wealth has grown three times faster than inflation. Corporate profits have gone up 54 percent. Wages have only gone up 26 percent.

Mr. Speaker, what is Congress' solution?

The 2017 Trump tax bill was a massive handout to corporations and billionaires. The majority of the benefits went almost entirely to the top 1 percent, and it added $2 trillion to the national debt.

Here in these Halls, folks want to do it again. Members of Congress who have continually bent a knee to billionaires and their corporate PAC donors are now going to take their money, follow their orders, and give them the tax giveaways they want. They are going to gut regulation and allow for more corporate consolidation, which means that consumers lose more and more power in the marketplace and pay more and more for goods and services.

I don't accept corporate PAC money because I know that my constituents expect us to be with them, not the superwealthy.

Most politicians, unfortunately, do take corporate PAC money, and I believe it is one of the reasons why there is so much pushback to Medicare negotiating lower prescription drug prices or attempts to privatize Medicare or any effort to pursue commonsense gun reform. Think about how much the gun manufacturers make. It is billions and billions of dollars.

Mr. Speaker, many of them are all in on spending trillions on the superwealthy through tax reform because it helps their own interests. It is not what people want.

People are struggling, and they want change. They are tired of the status quo. They are saying that over and over. For decades, that is what they have been given. We have appeased billionaires and big corporations while leaving working people, the middle class, and small businesses behind.

In the next Congress, we have an opportunity to pass a new tax bill. What if 100 percent of all tax reform benefits went to working people, the middle class, and small businesses?

The last time Congress passed a big tax bill, almost 90 percent went to the top 1 percent. What if 100 percent of any tax cuts went to working people, the middle class, and small businesses? It should be paid for by making the superwealthy just pay all their taxes, just like the rest of us.

Big corporations and the superwealthy don't need our tax cuts. The middle class, small businesses, and working people need them. By giving people enough money to support their families, pay for their groceries, and contribute to our economy, we are all better off.

Everyone at the top should pay all of their taxes so every American can pay all their bills.

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