United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I wish to thank the Senator from Michigan for bringing us together and making the point, as clearly as we can make it, that last night we had a chance to launch maybe the most important single issue in debate that we can consider in the Senate. We had a chance to bring both parties to the floor of the Senate and ask for the best ideas each of us has to move the economy forward.
The President has a plan. I think it is a good one. I support the plan. I think it is a reasonable way to move this economy forward and put people to work. But it is the nature of the legislative process that some will disagree with one aspect of it, some with others, and Members may have their own ideas to bring to the floor. That is what this branch of government is all about, that we have this debate, an open debate, Democrats and Republicans on the floor, and at the end of the day vote on something to move forward with together.
But last night not one single Republican Senator would join us in an effort to bring this matter to a debate on the floor. In fact, the Senator from Michigan has made the point over and over that the Republican filibuster requiring 60 votes to break the filibuster is stopping the majority from acting in the Senate on the issue of creating jobs--a Republican filibuster. That is problematic. It is troublesome. It is frustrating.
Because I am sure in Michigan, where they have been wracked for years now with unemployment and businesses struggling--we have similar problems in Illinois, 14 million Americans unemployed across the board. Take a look at what the Senator from Kentucky comes and tells us every day as Republican leader. He tells us that one of the big problems with this bill, as he sees it, is it is paid for. He does not like the fact that President Obama has paid for it and certainly does not like the way he paid for it. The way he paid for it is to impose a surtax of 5.6 percent on people making more than $1 million a year. That generates enough revenue, over a 10-year period of time, that we can give a payroll tax cut to working families across America, and we can provide tax incentives for businesses to hire unemployed veterans and people who have been out of work for a long time.
The money generated from that millionaire's tax is going to end up allowing us to save, in my State, 14,000 teacher, firefighter, and policemen jobs that otherwise would be lost. It will allow us to put money into modernizing our schools--which we need to do in Illinois and across the country, in Minnesota, Michigan, in Montana and every State and to build the basic infrastructure that America needs to be successful. Senator McConnell has said over and over, he will not agree to this tax hike.
Let's take a look at what middle-income Americans are paying as an effective Federal tax rate as opposed to the wealthiest in America, the point made over and over by President Obama and a point worth repeating today. Middle-class families in America, people making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year have an effective Federal tax rate of 14.9 percent. The wealthiest 1 percent, those making over $1 million a year, their effective Federal tax rate, 12 percent; 14.9 percent for middle-class families, working families; 12 percent for the wealthiest.
What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong with it is that working families across America struggle paycheck to paycheck, and they are paying a higher Federal tax rate than the wealthiest people in America.
I think everyone in America has to sacrifice. Now I know, some of the most vulnerable in America cannot. Physically, mentally they cannot rise to this challenge. But the rest of us, for goodness' sake, have to be prepared to sacrifice. Working families are already sacrificing, living paycheck to paycheck. To ask the wealthiest people in America, who are comfortable in this country because of the greatness of our economy, this open and transparent system, this rule of law we have, to ask them to pay a little more so America can move forward is not unreasonable.
I would say this: At the end of the day, when the economy picks up and moves forward, and it will, the folks in the highest income categories are going to do quite well. It is the bottom line. They are going to do well. The ones I have run into, the ones I have talked to who are fortunate enough to be in this category--I know a few of them--say: This is not unreasonable, Senator. Why do the Republicans oppose $1 in additional taxes to get the American economy moving forward?
But that, of course, is the reason the Senate Republicans, not a single one of them, would support bringing this jobs bill from the President to the floor. A second reason is fairly obvious. It is the President's plan. For many of them they are in full campaign mode now. They do not want to give this President anything that looks like a victory. So they are not going to vote for anything that has his name on it. In fact, they will oppose things which historically they have supported. When President Bush came forward with his own stimulus plan to create jobs, supported by the Republicans, it had a payroll tax cut in it--a payroll tax cut for working families. It also had tax breaks for businesses to hire the unemployed. That is what President Obama proposes, and now the Republicans have said: Oh, we liked it as a Bush plan. We do not like it as an Obama plan. What is the difference? The name.
I do not think the American people are going to cut us any slack if they believe we are spending more time designing bumper stickers for next year's election than we are in designing an economy that moves this country forward. I think they expect us--they demand of us--that we respond to this. When the Republicans impose a filibuster on President Obama's jobs act it is wrong. Let us have, as Senator Reid asked for last night, let us have the motion to proceed, let's get on this matter, and let's do it this week.
I wish to say a word as well--Senator McConnell comes to the floor frequently and says: Whoa. There is a big jobs bill coming up, the trade agreements. Listen, trade agreements can expand opportunity for the sale of goods and services. That is a fact. But when we look at the scheme of things and look at these trade agreements, the proposal I have read says the South Korea Trade Agreement would expand U.S. exports by $10 to $11 billion and support up to 70,000 jobs. That is a lot of money and a lot of jobs, except when we look at the universe--$10 to $11 billion in additional exports to Korea at a time when we have a $15 trillion economy. Good but not good enough. We need to make sure we are expanding jobs at a greater rate to get people back to work. The other two trade agreements are much smaller in comparison. So to argue that these trade agreements are the engine that will pull us out of the ditch and drive the economy forward is to completely overstate the positive impact which they might have.
I would say to my friends on the Republican side, do not believe that voting for a trade agreement that generates $10 billion more in exports and 70,000 jobs will solve the problems we face in America.
Yesterday, I went to a place called Career Tech in Chicago, funded by the Federal Government, an effort to take people who have been out of work for a long time and get them back into the workforce. They are introducing workers who had successful careers at businesses that closed to a new world, the world of social media, the world of information technology. They are learning. With that new education and training, they are getting new jobs.
I asked them about what life was like unemployed. Some of them have been out of work for over 2 years. I said to them: The President wants to extend unemployment benefits for those out of work. A lot of folks on the other side of the aisle are saying: Oh, we already tried that. We are not going to try that again. I said: What would happen to your family without unemployment benefits? To a person they said: I am not sure if we could have survived.
They are basically making the mortgage payment, paying utility bills, putting food on the table--the basics. So if the Republicans are opposed to unemployment benefits for those who cannot find a job, no matter how hard they try, unfortunately, that is going to have a devastating impact on working families across America.
For a footnote, I asked each one of them: What happened to your health insurance when you lost your job? They lost their health insurance. Think about it, Mom and Dad. Think about your responsibility to one another and to your kids with no health insurance. I mean, that is what happens to an unemployed person. Life is not a crystal staircase for these folks. They are just basically trying to get by and find a job. We need to help them. It is time for the Republicans to stop the filibuster and bring the Obama jobs bill to the floor. If they have better ideas, present those ideas as amendments. Our people will present their ideas. Let's have a full-throated debate about moving America forward. But for goodness' sakes, let's not stop the American economy cold in its tracks in an effort to preserve a Republican filibuster.
It is time for us to move together in a bipartisan nature as a Congress in both political parties. I thank my colleague from Michigan for bringing us together for this conversation. There is nothing more topical that we face.
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