Yesterday Senate Republicans once again rejected the idea that millionaires and billionaires should contribute their fair share to help this country prosper.

Republicans sent a message to millions of honest, hard-working Americans who will file their taxes today: it’s fair for Warren Buffett to pay a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Republicans said it’s fair for Mitt Romney to pay a lower tax rate than his cleaning lady or his chauffer.

They believe it’s fair for hedge fund managers and executives to pay a lower tax rate than school teachers and waitresses and bus drivers.

That’s just crazy.

But that’s not my word for it. That’s what President Ronald Reagan called a system of “unproductive tax loopholes that allow some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share.”

In 1985, Ronald Reagan knocked the web of loopholes that allowed people making hundreds of millions of dollars each year to pay lower tax rates than construction workers or janitors. President Reagan called it “crazy.”

This broken system “made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying ten percent of his salary,” Reagan said.

But the same system is in place today. And, as that radical liberal Ronald Reagan said, “That’s just crazy.”

Yesterday my Republican colleagues used some strong words to oppose Democrats’ plan to right that inequality.

Republicans called our common-sense proposal to ensure no one making more than a $1 million a year pays a lower tax rate than a truck driver, a secretary or a police officer “class warfare.”

Republicans are pushing a budget that would end Medicare as we know it, slash nursing home coverage for the elderly, decimate Pell Grant funding and kick 200,000 kids out of the Head Start Program.

And they’re calling our proposal class warfare?

I wish that were the most ridiculous thing Republicans have said about our proposal to bring a measure of fairness to America’s tax system. Far from it.

One member of Senate Republican Leadership equated this measure to “shooting ourselves in the head.”

The Paying a Fair Share Act – also called the Buffettt Rule – would have ensured millionaires and billionaires paid at least as much as their secretaries, assistants and nannies.

Yet Republicans think asking those lucky millionaires and billionaires to contribute their fair share is just like shooting the country in the head.

Our legislation would have protected 99 percent of small business owners, and maintained deductions for charitable giving.

And it would have been a small but meaningful step to reduce our deficit at a time when every penny – or in this case, every billion – counts.

It doesn’t seem radical to me to ask Warren Buffett – who made almost $63 million in 2010 – to pay a higher tax rate than his secretary.

It didn’t seem radical to Ronald Reagan, either.

And it doesn’t seem radical to the three-quarters of Americans who support our legislation.

The wealthiest Americans take home a greater percentage of the nation’s income than at any time in nearly a century. Yet they enjoy the lowest tax rate in more than 50 years.

So it’s no surprise Americans believe millionaires should shoulder their fair share.

Even two-thirds of millionaires – and a majority of Republicans around the country – agree it’s time to fix a system rigged to favor of the richest of the rich.

Republicans in Congress are the only ones who aren’t on board.

If you need evidence that millionaires and billionaires can afford to contribute a little more, consider this fact: last year there were 7,000 people who made more than $1 million but didn’t pay a single penny in federal income taxes. Not one thin dime.

Thanks to Republicans, those lucky millionaires and billionaires can keep gaming the system, while middle-class workers keep picking up the tab.

“Today Senate Republicans again put millionaires ahead of the middle class. Currently, most hedge fund managers pay a lower tax rate than many of their middle-class employees – but while the incomes for the wealthy have ballooned in recent years, middle-class wages haven’t kept pace with the price of a college education or a secure retirement. The measure that Republicans blocked today would have restored fairness to our tax code and reduced the deficit without asking middle class families or seniors to sacrifice any more than they already have.

“Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues would rather end Medicare as we know it than build a stronger middle class or ask millionaires to contribute an extra penny. Democrats will not stop fighting to restore fairness to our tax code, and I hope that in the future, my Republican colleagues will think of the teacher and the mechanic before the wealthiest Americans.”

As millions of Americans prepare to file income tax returns, the Senate will consider the basic fairness of our country’s tax system.

Today the wealthiest one percent takes home the highest share of the nation’s income since the roaring ‘20s.

But while their bank accounts have grown, their tax bills have shrunk.

The wealthiest Americans now pay the lowest tax rates in 50 years.

And this unfair system has turned the gap between the richest few and everyone else into a gulf.

Over the last few decades, a small number of Americans have seen their incomes skyrocket – by almost 300 percent.

But for the rest of Americans, wages have barely crept up. They haven’t kept pace with the price of a modest home, a good college and a secure retirement.

So times are tough for many middle-class families. But millionaires and billionaires aren’t sharing the pain – or the sacrifices.

Last year, there were 7,000 millionaires who didn’t pay a single penny in federal income taxes. Instead, ordinary Americans footed the bill – and that’s not fair.

In recent years, some Americans earning north of $110 million a year paid a lower tax rate than millions of middle-class families – and that’s not fair.

That’s how someone like my friend Warren Buffett winds up paying a lower tax rate than his secretary – which is just not fair.

When the richest few are making more than ever before, they can afford to shoulder their fair share of the burden to make this country prosper.

And they shouldn’t be allowed to hide behind tax loopholes that rig the system in their favor.

The Paying a Fair Share Act – also known as the Buffett Rule – would restore fairness to a system that has favored the interests of the wealthy for too long.

This legislation would ensure Americans who earn more than $1 million a year pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

The bill would hold harmless nearly every small business in America – more than 99 percent of small businesses, in fact.

It would maintain the deduction for charitable giving.

And it would be a small but important step toward restoring fiscal responsibility as our nation makes difficult choices about where to spend and what to cut.

Three-quarters of Americans believe millionaires and billionaires should contribute more.

Two-thirds of millionaires say it’s time to even the playing field.

And outside the Beltway, even a majority of Republicans agree.

But Republicans in Congress would rather end Medicare as we know it and slash education funding than ask the richest of the rich to contribute even a penny more.

As Senate Democrats work to make our tax system fair for all Americans, Republicans in the House continue to pursue a budget that would hand more tax breaks to the wealthiest few.

At its heart, this important debate – and the Buffett Rule – is about setting priorities.

America can build a world-class education system that will prepare our children and grandchildren to compete in the industries of tomorrow.

We can honor our commitment to a generation of young men and women who put their lives on the line to serve and protect our freedom.

And we can ensure seniors who worked hard all their lives look forward to a secure retirement and quality, affordable healthcare.

Or we can keep protecting special tax breaks for the richest of the rich. We can’t do both.

We must make smart choices.

President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people.”

I hope my Republican colleagues will join Democrats this evening as we choose a path toward economic fairness that allows all Americans to rise together as one people.