Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. 3630, Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. WELCH. The major reason why this motion to instruct is timely is the answer to this question. What will we know after February 17 that we don't know now? There is going to be no new information. So what would justify the delay?

What we know now, number one, is that Republican economists and Democratic economists say that this is a very fragile recovery, that we're all happy that the unemployment rate is going down, but we're all concerned that it's unacceptably too high. And when you have Republican and Democratic-aligned economists saying unanimously to take this money out of the economy at this time would stall the recovery, we all agree that we can't do that. So that's not going to change between now and February 17.

Secondly, we know that on the pay-for, we have clear lines of division on this. If you have a pay-for that basically takes with one hand what was given in the other, in other words you cut spending on things that help middle class families in order to pay for a 2 percent reduction in their payroll tax, that zeroes out the stimulative effect.

So from a macroeconomic point of view, it does no good for the economy, when all of us assert that our goal is to help the economy.

The second question is political tactics, and the political tactic of this Congress has been brinksmanship. On December 10, when we just about turned the lights out on government, it was a last-minute agreement that finally kept them on. It included a tax provision that extended the high-income tax cuts, added $800 billion to the deficit, and created some significant anxiety in the markets as to whether this institution could do its job.

Fast-forward to August of 2011 and to the fiasco--that's the only word that can be used--of this House of Representatives actually having a debate about whether it was legitimate for the people of this country to not pay their bills. That caused enormous anxiety in the markets. By the way, that hurts the economy.

In December of last year, we were in the payroll tax fight, and this is where I think we get to the heart of the matter. There is a difference of opinion on the payroll tax. The Democratic side is essentially for it, and it was very clear the Republicans were against it, and there was kicking and dragging when the Speaker came back with the unanimous consent and overrode the action that had previously been taken.

So the reality of the situation we're in now is that the other side is saying, yes, yes, yes, they're for a payroll tax reduction; but their actions say, no way, no way, no way.

It's time to act.

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