The Federal Budget

Floor Speech

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to reiterate some statistics that I entered into the record earlier today as we try to balance the Federal budget. Let's look at who has the money.

If you look at the big banks from Wall Street that took us down this dangerous road, six banks--among them Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo--made last year $51.5 billion in profits. That's with a "B,'' billion. Today, the majority passed a few billion dollars in cuts, and they took it out of the hides of ordinary Americans who are paying the price of this recession. But imagine if you worked for a Wall Street bank and only had to pay an effective tax rate of 11.5 percent or 11 percent when most businesses in America have to pay 35 percent. They are getting a really good deal. We didn't nick their bonuses a penny, and the top executives walked home with $26 million.

If you really want to ask yourself the question how to balance the budget, why don't we look at where the money really is, and none of that is on the table. And while you're paying those high gas prices, take a look at Exxon. They have the largest profits in American history: $9 billion last year in one quarter. Paid no taxes.

American people, wake up.

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