Budget Negotiations

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I thank my colleague from New York and colleague from Missouri for putting in context where we are today. But let's take one step back and look at what is the issue. The issue is basic: Will the payroll tax cut that currently helps 160 million Americans continue after January 1? That is the underlying question.

After all of the back and forth and politics, we believe it should. The President believes it should. Economists tell us that is the way to help us out of a recession and create more jobs. We have come up with a way to pay for it so it will not add to the deficit. Our proposal: a surtax on the wealthiest Americans, not on the first million dollars in income each year but on their second million dollars in income, a surtax.

We ask across America: Do you think that is fair to ask that sacrifice? Overwhelmingly, not just Democrats, Independents, Republicans, tea party Republicans believe that is fair. But, unfortunately, many on the Republican side are indentured political servants to a Washington lobbyist named Grover Norquist. They have signed an oath that they believe supersedes any other oath, to the Constitution or to the people they represent, that they will never, ever vote for a tax increase for the wealthy--not one penny. Not one penny.

So they wanted to stop the extension of this payroll tax cut for working families. They came up with a bill in the House of Representatives. The bill in the House of Representatives passed last night. It is so bad that the Senate Republicans will not let us bring it to the floor for a vote. They know what is going to happen. We saw it in the last 2 weeks. The Presiding Officer can remember. Senator Heller of Nevada put up a Republican alternative on the payroll tax cut, and on the first vote, out of 43 Republicans, 20 supported his measure, and out of the Republican leadership team, only Senator McConnell voted for it. Clearly this is not a popular approach, even when it is written by Senate Republicans.

Now the House Republican approach is so unpopular they will not even call it on the floor--so unpopular. If anyone is wondering whether we are going to get home for Christmas, they should have listened to this exchange this morning, when the Republicans refused to even call their own vote.

I agree with the Senator from Missouri. We owe to it the American people to get to the bottom of this, and quickly, to assure them January 1 the payroll cut will continue for working families across America, to assure them that we will maintain unemployment benefits for the 14 million unemployed Americans struggling to find jobs--4 unemployed for every available job. It is basic that we need to do this, and if we are going to get down to it, then I am afraid our Senate Republican colleagues have to accept the reality.

There comes a moment for a vote. This is the moment, the vote on whether we are going forward to make sure that we extend the payroll tax cut for working families in a fair way. That is what is at hand.

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