Raising Taxes

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I want to make a couple of observations this morning about what is going on in Washington at the moment and what is not. What is going on is that Democrats are obsessed for some reason with raising taxes. That is the only possible way to explain their latest idea to impose a permanent tax hike on about 300,000 U.S. business owners and then use the money to bail out cities and States that cannot pay their bills. That is the proposal we will be voting on apparently tomorrow.

I do not know if our friends on the other side have noticed, but Washington cannot pay its own bills right now. Think about it. The Federal Government spent $3.6 trillion last fiscal year, a new all-time record. And in the wake of the single largest spending year in history, Democrats want to put together another bailout.

Add up the projected deficits of all 50 States this year and you get $103 billion. That is all 50 States' deficits added up. Well, what about us? What about us here in Washington? We are expected to run a deficit of $1.3 trillion. Washington needs to prove it can get its own house in order before it starts demanding more money from job creators and throwing together another bailout.

This is the third time in 3 years the President has asked us to bail out the States. How many more times? And how many more billions before someone realizes this is a very bad idea? More bailouts. More bailouts are not going to solve the problem. They will just enable it.

But the bottom line is this: Everyone knows the last thing you want to do in a jobs crisis is raise taxes. It is common sense. The President himself has said as much. But for some reason he is determined to keep trying anyway. And Republicans are not about to go along with it. So Democratic leaders in Congress have decided to do nothing instead. If they do not get their tax hike, then they do not want to do anything at all. That is why rather than working with us on legislation that would get the government out of the way so the private sector can create jobs, including legislation that is in the President's own bill, they have choreographed a political sideshow this very week.

Here is how it works: The President proposes a stimulus bill and calls it a jobs bill. Congress rejects it in a bipartisan way for very sensible and straightforward reasons. The President then goes on a bus tour to criticize Republicans for voting against the so-called jobs bill. Democratic leaders consult with the White House on breaking the same bill into smaller pieces. And how do they break it up? By identifying parts they know Republicans will oppose, then add the tax hike just to make sure. Then another bus tour or a press conference with the President complaining about Republicans again. Repeat for 13 months in the hopes that Americans will forget they are all now living under the economic policies that were enacted during the first 2 years of the Obama administration, and hope for success. That is the game plan. In other words, they are actually designing legislation on the other side to fail so they will have someone else to blame for the economy 13 months from now. That is what is going on in the Senate this week.

So what is not going on? What is not going on is the kind of bipartisan cooperation Americans want. My friend the majority leader is out there telling people the Republicans are rooting for the economy to fail. Nothing could be further from the truth. Look, if Republicans wanted the economy to fail, we would all line up behind the President's economic policies rather than opposing them, because they have not solved this jobs crisis we have been in. We have done that.

The President got everything he wanted the first 2 years he was in office. So I think it is time Democrats realize they were elected to lead, not to choreograph political theater. It is completely preposterous. At a time when 14 million Americans are looking for a job in this country, for the President to be riding around on a bus saying we should raise taxes, it is completely preposterous for the President to be riding around on a bus saying we should be raising taxes on the very folks who create jobs.

Think about that. We have 14 million people out of work and two self-identified conservatives for every liberal in this country, and the President is out there doing his best Howard Dean impersonation. He is completely out of touch. Let's forget about the tax hikes.

Let's drop the talking points about millionaires and billionaires and let's work together on bipartisan jobs legislation that is designed to pass, not designed to fail.

Republican leadership in the House and Republican leadership here in the Senate has been crystal clear. We are ready to work with the White House on legislation on which we can all agree. The two parties did it last week on trade bills. There are other areas where we can do the same.

The House voted on three bills this year, one as recently as last week, to roll back excessive regulations by bureaucrats in Washington who are destroying jobs and threatening to put even more Americans out of work. All three of those House bills got solid bipartisan support. Why do we not have those votes in the Senate and show that we can work together to help businesses create jobs? Let's park the campaign bus, put away the talking points, and do something to address the jobs crisis.

The American people want action. The election is 13 months away. Why do we not do what we were elected to do?

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