Middle Class Tax Cut Act--Motion to Proceed--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I very much appreciate the cogent remarks, sensible remarks of my colleague from Florida. He has fought long and hard for the middle class in terms of taxes, and I very much appreciate his hard work on this issue. The citizens of Florida should be proud of him.

I rise today, of course, also to talk about the upcoming Senate vote on the middle-class tax cuts.

For weeks, Senate Democrats have been asking our friends on the other side of the aisle to allow this debate on taxes to happen. Leader Reid has repeatedly offered to have a simple up-or-down vote on both the Democratic and Republican proposals. Time after time, minority leader Mitch McConnell has declined.

But, fortunately, that has now changed. Senator McConnell has, after weeks of delay, relented and decided he is not going to filibuster our middle-class tax cut bill. That is very good news for the country. The most important thing we can do for the economy right now is to provide certainty to the middle class that their taxes are not going up.

I believe there are two reasons Senator McConnell finally decided to allow this to happen.

First, forcing his entire caucus to filibuster this legislation would have been politically disastrous for them. It would have prevented any debate or amendments on the Democratic tax cut legislation, meaning the Republicans would not have been able to offer their amendments to extend tax cuts for those millionaires and billionaires. In other words, a filibuster would have meant there would have been only a single vote on middle-class tax cuts on the Democratic proposal and that almost all Republicans would then have been on record against them. So it is easy to see why that would have been uncomfortable for them.

Second, I truly believe some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have truly looked at the Democratic proposal and realized that voting for it is the right thing to do. I believe Senator McConnell would have not been able to stop them from voting yes.

Faced with widespread concern in his caucus, I believe Senator McConnell decided an abrupt about face was in his best interest. So the Senate is about to speak. We are going to pass a bill that will ensure taxes do not go up for the 98 percent of Americans who earn less than $250,000 a year. We are going to defeat a proposal that would spend almost $1 trillion providing additional cuts for the richest 2 percent and at the same time allowing tax breaks used by 25 million middle-class families to expire.

Included in that is something very important to me; that is, the $2,500 credit middle-class families get to help defray the cost of tuition. To not allow that to move forward, whether in this bill, the extenders bill or another bill would be very bad policy, hurt the middle class, and hurt the future of America.

We are doing it. I hope everyone will join us in supporting the Democratic bill which has that provision to provide tuition relief, tax relief to help middle-class families defray the cost of tuition.

Once the Democratic proposal passes the Senate, it will be sent to the House. I am sure Speaker Boehner does not appreciate the uncomfortable position Senate Democrats and Republicans have put him in. Make no mistake about it, Senator McConnell, to save his caucus from a disastrous vote against the middle-class tax extension, has had to put the Speaker in a box.

The Speaker knows if he puts this bill on the floor, his Members will have trouble voting against it. So they have decided to put out an argument that they should not bring it up because of a blue-slip issue. While it is true that revenue vehicles have to originate in the House, this is a problem that could be easily remedied. In fact, Senator Reid tried to do it by unanimous consent earlier today, but unfortunately the minority leader blocked it.

When it comes to blue-slip issues, where there is a will, there is a way. House Republicans have passed two landmark revenue bills this Congress after the Senate passed them--the highway bill and the FAA bill. Senate Republicans have joined Democrats in passing legislation in the Senate this Congress despite potential blue-slip issues, the Violence Against Women Act and the ethanol excise tax credit repeal, for example.

But if House Republicans insist on blocking our middle-class tax cuts and using the blue-slip issue as an excuse, that is a debate we are willing to have. That is a debate we welcome. Because, for once, we have broken the vice that Republicans have had on tax issues for 30 years. They have always conflated tax cuts for the middle class and tax cuts for the very wealthy. But this bill breaks that vice and allows us to support middle-class tax cuts without--without--giving tax cuts to the very wealthiest among us who, A, will not bump up the economy because they do not spend a large proportion of that high income, and, B, could go to deficit reduction.

I know lots of very wealthy people who say: I do not mind paying more taxes if the money would go to deficit reduction. Our bill allows exactly that to happen. So Democrats are going to be happy to bring the argument to the American people and ask them whether they think obscure procedural rules which the Republican Party in the House has ignored time and time again are now reason enough to let over 100 million families face a tax hike of $1,600 a year.

The Senate is about to pass the only tax cut bill that has a chance of becoming law. No one thinks it is a good idea to raise taxes on the middle class. No one. We can disagree about whether the very wealthiest in society should also get a tax break, but we all agree the middle class should get one. So why hold one hostage for the other?

The Senate supports middle-class tax breaks. The President supports middle-class tax breaks. The House supports middle-class tax breaks. Democrats support middle-class tax breaks. Republicans support middle-class tax breaks. Instead of fighting over whether the wealthiest in society should also get a tax break, why do we not pass this now, give real relief to the middle class, and have the other debate later?

Middle-class Americans who do not want to see their taxes go up support what we are doing. The House should act immediately so the President can sign this bill into law.

I yield the floor.

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