Bush Tax Cuts
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the Senator from Rhode Island spoke about the 10th anniversary of the George W. Bush tax cuts. These were tax cuts that primarily benefitted the wealthiest people in America, and we recently renewed them. There was a decision made that to keep the economy moving forward we were not going to raise taxes, even on the wealthiest people.
But it is worth reflection for a moment about what happened when we cut the taxes 10 years ago. The promise then is the same promise we now hear from the other side of the aisle: If you will cut taxes on the wealthiest people in America, our economy will flourish.
Well, it turns out that was not the case at all. In fact, what happened is that we saw the economy suffer. Ten years ago, President Bush signed into law the first massive tax cut. He said that this tax relief would create jobs. The month the first Bush tax cuts were signed into law, in June of 2001, the American economy had 132 million jobs--132 million jobs. Three years later, we were down to 131.4 million. Cutting taxes for the wealthiest people in America was not a job stimulator. The economy lost jobs in the 3 years following the Bush tax cuts. Over his 8 years in office, job growth under President Bush was 4.8 percent, compared to 16.2 percent under President Clinton.
Before I defer to my colleague from Vermont, I will tell you one other fact that is worth noting. First, when President Clinton left office and President George W. Bush took over, we had a surplus, a surplus that was keeping the Social Security trust fund flush with money and growing in strength. At that time, the net national debt, accumulated since George Washington, $5 trillion--$5 trillion when Clinton left office and Bush took over. Fast forward 8 years later as George W. Bush left office. What was the situation? The national debt had more than doubled to more than $10 trillion, and the projected deficit for the next fiscal year for President Obama--his first fiscal year--$1.2 trillion, the highest in history.
What happened? We waged two wars and did not pay for them--wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We added to the national debt. And President Bush, for the first time in the history of the United States, did something no other President had done: He cut taxes in the midst of a war, which is counterintuitive; you do not have enough money to pay for the ordinary expenses of government, now you have got the new expenses of war, and you are cutting taxes?
Not surprisingly, this added dramatically to our national debt. So now comes the Republican side again, with our economy still recovering--unfortunately too slowly--and their recipe is tax cuts for the wealthy. I would say those of us who are fortunate to live in this great country and have the comfort of a good salary should not begrudge paying this country's debts and this country's needs. I think it is part of our responsibility of citizenship.
There are those who are struggling to get by in lower income and middle-income categories who I think need a helping hand. But those at the highest levels of income--over $250,000 a year, over $500,000 a year--should not be angry about accepting more responsibility in trying to help this Nation move forward.
The Bush tax cuts did not help create jobs, they caused the deficit to explode and they made it even worse in terms of our inequality of income. Why would we want to do that again? There are 13.9 million people in this country who want to work but cannot find a job; millions more have accepted fewer hours and less income than they like out of desperation.
We should be focusing now on creating jobs in America, good-paying jobs that stay right here at home. We ought to be helping middle- and lower income families who are struggling to get by. We ought to deal with our deficit in honest terms, cutting spending where there is waste and misuse of funds, and then saying, we need revenue on the table as well.
We need to make sure we have a bipartisan approach for this. I will continue in that effort to try to reach that goal. But I hope we have learned a lesson over the last 10 years when it comes to tax cuts for the wealthy. They led us to the highest deficits in our history. At this point, I am afraid using that recipe again will create even more economic hardship.
I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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