Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I wish to commend Senator Warner and Senator Chambliss in particular for their important work, and tomorrow it will be even more important given that this agreement will pass tonight.

There is always another election around the corner, a big array of special interest groups that need to be satisfied, and the constant scream of public opinion polls that politicians live and die for. Why take action that could offend a group today if you can put it off for a while?

In my view, the agreement that will pass tonight is a victory for the politics of procrastination. At a time when Americans are swimming in debt, more water will be put into the pool. Instead of taking steps to fix the market-distorting, job-killing Tax Code--last overhauled a quarter of a century ago when China and India were blips in the global economy--this vote, tonight, will prop up our broken Tax Code. Millions of Americans are out of work, small businesses are closing their doors, and instead of finding permanent solutions to the problem, the agreement is smiling like Scarlett O'Hara and saying: Fiddle-dee-dee, I will think about it tomorrow.

The agreement doesn't come close to what is needed to get our economy back on track. In many ways, this deal will make the problems worse. For one, it adds more to the deficit than TARP, more than the 2009 stimulus bill--858 billion more dollars will be added to the national debt.

At a time when our economy desperately needs to create more jobs, the agreement continues the same tax policies that failed to create jobs for the past 10 years.

At a time when businesses are saying that uncertainty is keeping them from hiring and investing, this deal increases that uncertainty by essentially turning the entire personal income tax system into a temporary structure that will all expire in a year or two.

And at a time when China is planning to invest a trillion dollars in crucial industries for its long-term growth, there is nothing in this agreement that makes so much as a downpayment for investing in our Nation's future.

It did not have to be this way. As Senator Warner and colleagues have mentioned, there was a blueprint provided by the deficit commission. I don't happen to agree with everything in it, but clearly it was a very important blueprint.

In the 1980s--and I see Senator Alexander here, who clearly remembers those days--President Reagan and the Democrats worked for bipartisan tax reform to clean out the loopholes, hold down the rates, and keep progressivity. In the 2 years, colleagues, after Democrats and Ronald Reagan worked together, our economy grew by 6.3 million jobs--twice the number created between 2001 and 2008 when tax policy was purely partisan.

I don't think it had to be this way. Senator Warner and Senator Chambliss tried very hard to add a provision that might at some point insert consequences for inaction. Colleagues--and I will close with this--nothing will happen in this town where there is this culture of procrastination unless there are some consequences for inaction.

There are provisions in this measure tonight that I support very strongly--unemployment insurance, help for the middle class and small business. I was willing to extend the whole Bush-era program for a year if it were done in a way to force action. But that is not going to be done.

Tonight, I intend to vote no. Tomorrow, I will be back with Senator Warner and Senator Chambliss to build on the good work of the deficit commission, build on the good work Democrats and Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s to give us a model so that finally in this country we tackle the major problems--debt reduction and fixing the job-killing Tax Code--and bring back the middle class to the prosperity they deserve.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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