“The Ryan Republican budget introduced earlier this week reflects an entirely different set of priorities – skewed priorities Americans have rejected time and again.”

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding the Senate budget resolution. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

For four years, the first priority for the country and for Congress has been to improve the nation’s economy and strengthen the middle class. Our efforts have paid off, and pulled us out of the Great Recession. Over the last 36 months, businesses have created 6.4 million new jobs. But the economy isn’t back to full strength, and unemployment is still too high.

So we cannot take chances with our recovery. We must renew investments in the things that make America strong – in innovation and job training, in education and preventive health care, in new roadways, railways and bridges. To meet our country’s long-term economic goals – including reducing the deficit – we must enact policies that support a strong and growing middle class.

That is why this week the Senate will pass a budget – crafted by the senior Senator from Washington, Budget Chairman Patty Murray – that fully replaces the harmful sequester cuts with balanced, responsible deficit reduction. The policies outlined in our budget will save hundreds of thousands of jobs, and safeguard communities by keeping police, air traffic controllers and meat inspectors on the job. First we must avoid self-inflicted wounds. Then we can build on the successes of the last 36 months.

The Senate budget will continue that progress by creating new jobs repairing crumbling roads and bridges, and training workers for high-skill jobs. These investments are fully paid for by eliminating almost $1 trillion worth of loopholes that benefit the wealthiest Americans and the most profitable corporations.

The Senate budget also makes nearly $1 trillion in responsible spending cuts across the federal budget. But meaningful deficit reduction requires shared sacrifice, including contributions from the wealthiest among us.

If you own a profitable corporation that ships jobs to China or India, Democrats in Congress can’t stop you. But we can keep you from getting a tax break for outsourcing. If you’re successful enough to own a second home or a yacht, Democrats in Congress applaud your success. But American taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize that success with a tax break for your vacation home or your boat.

Ending these wasteful giveaways makes sense to most people. An overwhelming majority of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, support our balanced approach.

In the last two years, we have reduced the deficit by $2.4 trillion. The Senate budget continues this effort without jeopardizing our economic recovery or breaking our promises to seniors and veterans. This budget keeps Medicare strong for today’s seniors, and preserves it for our children and grandchildren. It reflects Democratic values. And it honors the belief that success doesn’t trickle down from the top; it grows out from the middle class.

The Ryan Republican budget introduced earlier this week reflects an entirely different set of priorities – skewed priorities Americans have rejected time and again. The Ryan Republican budget would hand out more budget-busting tax breaks for the wealthy. And to pay for these wasteful tax cuts, it would end the Medicare guarantee, rob 50 million Americans of affordable health insurance and raise taxes on middle-class families. To appease the Tea Party, the Ryan Republican budget would risk lives and risk the recovery.  And that is just too high a price to pay.

“I applaud President Obama for nominating Thomas Perez to head the Labor Department. Perez has already showed his commitment to defending the American dream and upholding every American’s civil liberties, and his professional background makes him qualified for a job vital to our economy and the growth of the middle class. He is pragmatic and a believer in consensus who works equally well with CEOs and labor leaders. But it is also his life story, growing up the son of immigrants in upstate New York, that has given him an understanding of the realities facing American families and how decisions made in Washington impact them.

“Mr. Perez is highly qualified and deserves a speedy confirmation. Few public servants have fought as hard to protect the rights and freedoms enshrined by the Constitution as Mr. Perez. I hope Senate Republicans will put partisanship aside and look at his record and values in an objective manner.”

“But our efforts to restore prosperity will mean little unless Congress acts immediately to deal with arbitrary, across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect next month.”

“Later this week, Democrats will introduce a plan to avert the so-called sequester.”

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding the State of the Union Address. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

Last night President Obama outlined an agenda to strengthen the middle class and expand on our economic progress. And he outlined an agenda that will restore the core value that makes this nation great: fairness. Senate Democrats stand ready to work with the President to make this vision – a vision in which every American shares the prosperity as well as the responsibility – a reality.

The President’s agenda calls for common-sense investments in our future – investments that will breathe new life into a struggling middle class, investments that will make America a magnet for jobs and manufacturing once more, investments that have been deferred for far too long because of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The President’s plan will give American manufacturers the support they need to thrive, while ending giveaways to companies that ship jobs overseas. His plan will create jobs today building world-class roadways, railways and bridges that our economy can rely on tomorrow. It will prepare current and future workers to compete in a global economy by making K-through-12 schools the best in the world once again and college affordable for every graduate. His plan will break our addiction to foreign oil and encourage investments in renewable energy – a change that will be good for the environment and for the economy. And, as the President said last night, it will do all this without adding a dime to the deficit.

These investments in a strong middle class are not just right for our country; they’re right for our economy as well.

But our efforts to restore prosperity will mean little unless Congress acts immediately to deal with arbitrary, across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect next month. If the looming sequester strikes, 70,000 children would be kicked off Head Start. Ten thousand teacher jobs will be at risk. And the Small Business Administration will be forced to reduce loan guarantees to small businesses by up to $540 million.

Democrats believe we should replace this harsh austerity with a balanced approach that targets wasteful spending and tax loopholes, and asks the wealthiest among us to contribute a little more to reduce the deficit. The American people know we can’t cut our way to prosperity. They agree we cannot ask the middle class to bear the entire burden of deficit reduction.

Later this week, Democrats will introduce a plan to avert the so-called sequester.

Republicans say they agree the deep cuts they voted for would be damaging to our economy and to national security. But they would rather cut Medicare, education and medical research than close a single wasteful tax loophole or ask a single millionaire to contribute more. They should stop protecting millionaires, billionaires and wealthy corporations, and start working with us to pass an alternative to these terrible cuts that protects the middle class.

We must not jeopardize the progress of the last four years. Even though our work to restore economic prosperity is not done, we should take pride in 35 months of private sector growth and 6.1 million new, American jobs. Imagine how many more jobs we could have created with just a little cooperation from our Republican colleagues.

But now our friends across the aisle have another opportunity to engage constructively. They have a second chance to work with Democrats to rebuild the middle class by investing in the things that made America strong in the first place – world-class roads and bridges, peerless schools, industrious factories and creative entrepreneurs.

President Ronald Reagan, in his first address to a Joint Session of Congress, spoke of these building blocks of prosperity. This is what he said: “The substance and prosperity of our nation is built by wages brought home from the factories and the mills, the farms, and the shops. They are the services provided in 10,000 corners of America; the interest on the thrift of our people and the returns for their risk-taking. The production of America is the possession of those who build, serve, create, and produce.”

He did not say the substance of our nation is built on profits gleaned from shipping jobs overseas. He did not say the prosperity of America is the possession of investment banks or wealthy oil companies alone.

Rather, our substance and prosperity are earned in factories and mills, farms and shops. And the rewards belong to all those who build, serve, create and produce – not only to the few strong enough or rich enough to take for themselves.

It’s time to return to those roots. It is time to remember that fairness is not just a principle for which to strive, but a powerful engine of growth and prosperity for all Americans.

“We must build on this progress, fostering a lasting recovery that ensures Americans’ successes are determined by the strength of their will and not the size of their wallet.”

“Senate Democrats will offer our own solution to the sequester later this week.”

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding tonight’s State of the Union Address. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

Four years ago, as newly-elected President Barack Obama prepared to deliver his first address to a Joint Session of Congress, this country was in the midst of a grave crisis. Our economy had been shaken to its core by a financial crisis sparked by Wall Street greed. Millions of Americans had lost their jobs, their homes and their hope.

But President Obama predicted that America would rise to meet the challenges of the day. This is what he said: “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before. The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation.”

Four years later, we can say with certainty that he was right. Over the last 35 months, American businesses have created more than 6.1 million jobs – including more than a million in the manufacturing and auto industries. Although the economy is not back to full strength and there are still too many Americans out of work, we have made solid progress in the last four years. The depth of the crisis did not determine our destiny. Instead our determination drove us to prosper again.

Now we are faced with an opportunity disguised as a challenge: we must build on this progress, fostering a lasting recovery that ensures Americans’ successes are determined by the strength of their will and not the size of their wallet.

Tonight President Obama will chart a course to maintain the economic progress we’ve made and revive a still-struggling middle class. I look forward to hearing his vision.

I expect the President will call for common-sense investments in our future – investments that have been deferred for too long because of economic turmoil. When times are hard, these investments are easy to put off.

But if America hopes to compete in a changing world, we must prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s jobs. We must give small businesses and American manufacturers the support they need to thrive. We must stop relying on foreign oil and start investing in renewable energy that is better for our environment and for our economy. And if we hope to rebuild and maintain a world-class economy, we must build the 21st century infrastructure to support that economy. Renewing these investments is not only the right thing to do for our country; it’s the right thing to do for our economy.

For the last four years, the President has repeatedly reached across the aisle to Republicans, suggesting we find common ground for the sake of the recovery. Tonight will be no different. I expect the President’s proposals will include ideas supported by both Democrats and Republicans. And I hope my Republican colleagues will give his vision the consideration it deserves.

Tonight President Obama will also propose a balanced alternative to the devastating, automatic spending cuts set to take effect next month. Democrats believe we should prevent these harmful, arbitrary cuts – cuts to both the military and to the initiatives that help middle-class families prosper, for which Republicans in both Chambers voted. We could easily avert these job-destroying cuts, which would hinder the economic recovery, by ending wasteful tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.

A balanced approach that pairs sensible spending reductions with modest contributions from the wealthiest among us would prevent the damage of the so-called sequester. I was disappointed to learn yesterday that Republican leaders have no intention of bringing legislation to the floor of the House of Representatives to replace the sequester with a more sensible approach.

Senate Democrats will offer our own solution to the sequester later this week. If Republicans truly agree that these across-the-board cuts would be damaging to our economy and to national security, they should work with us to pass an alternative.

During the first State of the Union address in 1790, the first President of the United States, George Washington, told Congress this: “The welfare of our country is the great object to which our cares and efforts ought to be directed.” As Republicans and Democrats from both Chambers come together tonight to hear the state of this great union, we should all keep those words in mind. Despite our many differences, if we find the will to work together we will have the power to build an economy that works for every American.

“Democrats will hold fast to the guiding principle that a strong middle class – and an opportunity for every American to enter that middle class – is the key to this nation’s success.”

“But not a single piece of important legislation can pass the Senate or become law without the votes of both Democrats and Republicans. So we will also be willing to compromise and to work with our colleagues across the aisle.”

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding compromise and Democrats’ legislative priorities for the 113th congress. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

Today – with the inspiration of the second inauguration of President Barack Obama fresh in our minds – we renew our effort to fulfill the promise of prosperity for every American. The theme of yesterday’s inauguration was “faith in America’s future.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – whose birth and life we also celebrated Monday – once said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” I have faith that the members of the 113th Congress will bring this nation closer to realizing that promise of prosperity.

The last Congress was too often characterized by sharp political divides – divides that hampered efforts to foster success for all Americans. I am hopeful – cautiously optimistic – that the 113th Congress will be characterized not by our divisions, but by our renewed commitment to cooperation and compromise. I urge every woman and every man fortunate enough to serve in this Chamber to remember: It is possible to hold fast to your principles while making the compromises necessary to move our country forward.

Democrats will hold fast to the guiding principle that a strong middle class – and an opportunity for every American to enter that middle class – is the key to this nation’s success. Democrats will stand strong – strong for the standard of balance. And we will remain resolute – resolute in the pursuit of fairness for all Americans, regardless of where they were born or the color of their skin, regardless of the size of their bank accounts, regardless of their religion or their sexual orientation.

Those principles will direct our course as we introduce our first ten bills today – a tradition in the United States Senate – and as we mend our broken immigration system, strengthen our schools and rebuild our roads and bridges. Those principles will be foremost in our minds as we balance the right to bear arms with the right of every child to grow up safe from gun violence. Those principles will be our North Star as we work to end wasteful tax loopholes and balance thoughtful spending reductions with revenue from the wealthiest among us. And those principles will point the way as we work to ensure this country’s uniformed service members never struggle to find employment when their military duties end. Through every struggle and every triumph, those principles must be our guide.

But not a single piece of important legislation can pass the Senate or become law without the votes of both Democrats and Republicans. So we will also be willing to compromise and to work with our colleagues across the aisle.

Unfortunately, a number of bipartisan bills passed by the Senate during the last Congress were never acted upon by the House of Representatives. So this year the Senate will also revisit some of the legislative priorities of the 112th Congress. We will take up the Violence Against Women Act, the farm bill, historic reforms to save the United States Postal Service and legislation to make whole the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Each of these initiatives passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis after deliberation and debate during the 112th Congress, but was left to languish by the House of Representatives.

The Senate will continue to help our fellow Americans recover from Hurricane Sandy before another, similar disaster strikes. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed in New York, New Jersey and New England, and tens of thousands of Americans were left homeless by this destructive storm. We have a responsibility to aid our countrymen as they rebuild and their lives and their communities – as we have after terrible floods, fires and storms in other parts of our nation. Once we complete that vital legislation, the Senate will take action to make this institution that we all love work more effectively. We will consider changes to the United States Senate rules.

Because this matter warrants additional debate, today we will follow the precedents set in 2005 and again in 2011. We will reserve the right of all Senators to propose changes to the Senate rules. And we will explicitly not acquiesce in the carrying over of all the rules from the last Congress. It is my intention that the Senate will recess today, rather than adjourn, to continue the same legislative day, and allow this important rules discussion to continue. I am hopeful the Republican leader and I will reach an agreement that allows the Senate to operate more effectively.

“It is reassuring to see Republicans beginning to back off their threat to hold our economy hostage. If the House can pass a clean debt ceiling increase to avoid default and allow the United States to meet its existing obligations, we will be happy to consider it. As President Obama has said, this issue is too important to middle class families’ economic security to use as a ploy for collecting a ransom. We have an obligation to pay the bills we have already incurred – bills for which many House Republicans voted.”

“In the event that Republicans make good on their threat by failing to act, or by moving unilaterally to pass a debt limit extension only as part of unbalanced or unreasonable legislation, we believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without Congressional approval, if necessary,” the leaders write.

Senate leaders made clear their willingness to pursue balanced approach to cutting spending and reducing our deficit, but reiterated their insistence that any approach be a balanced between smart cuts and revenues from the wealthiest Americans.

###

The full text of the letter is below.

January 11, 2013

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As you know, Republican leaders are threatening to bring on an economic catastrophe unless Democrats make deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

This threat is outrageous and absurd. Defaulting on America’s legal obligations would undermine the American economy and spread global economic havoc. Just two years ago, Speaker Boehner himself admitted that failure to raise the debt limit “would be a financial disaster, not only for us, but for the worldwide economy.”

It is hard to imagine that the Speaker and Leader McConnell would really follow through on their threat to let our nation default on its debts. They are responsible leaders who know better. Sadly, some of their Republican colleagues do not. Therefore, we believe that you must make clear that you will never allow our nation’s economy and reputation to be held hostage. In the event that Republicans make good on their threat by failing to act, or by moving unilaterally to pass a debt limit extension only as part of unbalanced or unreasonable legislation, we believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without Congressional approval, if necessary.

As you know, increasing the debt limit does not authorize new spending. It merely ensures that we meet our existing obligations. Those obligations were incurred by both Republicans and Democrats, and are the responsibility of all Americans.

Accordingly, we hope that you will continue to ignore claims that agreeing to an increase in the debt limit would somehow represent a concession by Republicans to Democrats. All Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, have a stake in ensuring that our country meets its legal obligations. Financial markets have long viewed securities backed by the full faith and credit of the United States as the most trustworthy in the world. This lowers borrowing costs for homes, cars, and college for all Americans and strengthens our economy. If we violate that trust for the first time in history, we will never fully regain it, and every American will suffer.

For all these reasons, we support your view that an extension of the debt limit is not something for which Democrats should have to negotiate. At the same time, as a separate matter, we agree about the importance of developing a broad, bipartisan agreement on fiscal policy that strengthens our economy and reduces our long-term budget deficit.

As you have said, any such agreement must treat all Americans fairly and include not just responsible spending cuts but additional revenue from the wealthy and the elimination of wasteful tax breaks. It would be wrong to slash earned benefits for seniors and middle class families, while allowing corporations, millionaires, and billionaires to continue to exploit wasteful tax loopholes. We therefore hope that you will continue to insist that the entire budget be on the table, and that any agreement be fully balanced and fair.

Thank you for your consideration of our views.

Respectfully,

Senator Harry Reid
Senator Dick Durbin
Senator Chuck Schumer
Senator Parry Murray

A PDF of the letter can be found online here.

“House Republicans pushed middle class families closer to the cliff by wasting an entire week with their incompetent ‘Plan B’ stunt. It is time for House Republicans to put middle class families first by passing the Senate’s bill to protect 98 percent of Americans from a tax hike on January 1. The Senate bill could pass tomorrow if House Republicans would simply let it come to the floor.

“The Senate has already rejected House Republicans’ Tea Party bills, and no further legislation can move through the Senate until Republicans drop their knee-jerk obstruction. Right now, the Senate bill is the only bill that can become law, and House Republicans owe it to middle class families to let it pass with Democratic and Republican votes.”

Incoming Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn: “I believe we’re going to pass the $250,000 and below sooner or later, and we really don’t have much leverage there because those rates go up by operation of law Dec. 31.  I would focus on the areas where we do have more leverage.”  [Politico, 12/12/12]

Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV): “But as government leaders are negotiating in advance of a year-end deadline to avert at least $500 billion in automatic tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts – the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ - Heller said he would ‘take a serious look at any proposal,’ including ones that might allow rates to increase on upper-income families while keeping them lower for others.” [Las Vegas Review Journal, 12/12/12]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): “Give in by voting present, let the Democrats pass an increase in the upper tax brackets, comes over to the Senate, Republicans vote no, and it becomes a Democrat tax increase but not a Republican/Democrat tax increase, which I think is a mistake for the Republicans.” [Fox News, 12/11/12]

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): “Murkowski, in an interview this morning from Washington, said she had been among Republicans who have been saying that raising the tax rate on some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals should be a part of the solution to the national debt problem if it is coupled with a reduction in spending on entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. An increasing number of Republicans have, following Obama’s re-election and Republican losses in Congress, been expressing such a view. ‘I have been suggesting for a period of time now that I think it is worth a discussion, consideration, to look at the highest earners,’ Murkowski said. ‘For us as party to draw a line in the sand, to say ‘Don’t ever touch tax rates,’ I think that became a problem for us.’” [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner,12/12/12]

GROWING NUMBER OF GOP LAWMAKERS AGREE

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN): “So, and a lot of people are putting forth a theory and I actually think it has merit where you go ahead and give the president the 2 percent increase that he is talking about, the rate increase on the top 2 percent.”  [Fox News Sunday, 12/9/12]

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE): “Sen. Mike Johanns edged Friday toward willingness to consider an increase in the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans as part of a fiscal cliff agreement if it also includes ‘a good-faith down payment’ on reducing entitlement spending. ‘You know, I think there is an opportunity there,’ Johanns told Bloomberg TV anchor Al Hunt when he asked whether Republicans could go along with a Democratic plan that would restore the top tax rate to 39.6 percent with a promise that it could be revisited next year.” [Lincoln Journal Star, 12/7/12]

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK): “Personally, I know we have to raise revenue; I don’t really care which way we do it.  Actually, I would rather see the rates go up than do it the other way, because it gives us greater chance to reform the tax code and broaden the base in the future.” [The Hill, 12/5/12]

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME): “Representative (Tom) Cole’s (R-Okla.) proposal to proceed with an extension of tax relief for working families making $250,000 or less has merit because everyone agrees lower and middle-income families should not be subjected to higher taxes. I believe that very wealthy individuals — millionaires and billionaires — should pay a greater percentage of their income in taxes to help us reduce the soaring deficit.” [Portland Press Herald, 12/6/12]

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME): “Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, who is retiring, joined a handful of other Republicans on Tuesday suggesting that Congress should pass the middle-class tax cut extensions now, then leave the fight over taxes and spending until later. Americans, she said, ‘should not even be questioning that we will ultimately raise taxes on low- to middle-income people.’ Congress could take that off the table‘while you’re grappling with tax cuts for the wealthy,’ she said.” [NY Times, 12/5/12]

Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX): “Separately, Representative Kay Granger of Texas is endorsing Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole’s call to extend all tax cuts for middle-class earners as ‘just the right thing to do.’” [Bloomberg, 12/5/12]

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC): “I would probably vote for it at that point.” [Huffington Post, 12/4/12]

Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH): “Rate increase, if the package includes significant entitlement reform that gets you to $4 to $6 trillion (in deficit savings) over 10 years, I would vote for that.” [The Associated Press, 11/30/12]

Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH): “If it gets us past the fiscal cliff and the president is willing to consider meaningful savings in entitlements, it’s a legitimate solution.” [The Associated Press, 11/30/12]

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK): “I think we ought to take the 98 percent deal right now.” [Politico, 11/27/12]

Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA): “I have to say that if you’re going to sign me up with a camp, I like what Tom Cole has to say.” [CNN, 11/29/12]

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID): “I wouldn’t have a problem with letting those tax rates go up.” [Reuters, 11/29/12]

Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL): “Tom Cole is talking about passing the ones that are out there so there could be more certainty, and I think that would be a positive step.” [NY Times, 11/29/12]

CONSERVATIVE OPINION MAKERS ALSO SEE WRITING ON WALL

Bill Kristol: “My view is, get the tax issue off the table. It’s the weakest one for Republicans right now.”  [Fox News Sunday, 12/9/12]

Anne Coulter:  Coulter: “OK fine, let’s do that, but in the end, at some point, if the Bush tax cuts are repealed and everyone’s taxes go up, I promise you Republicans will get blamed for it.  It doesn’t mean you cave on everything, but there are some things Republicans do that feed into what the media is telling America about Republicans.”  Hannity: “So are you saying that, for PR purposes, that they should give in to Obama on the tax rate?”  Coulter: “Not exactly, I–Well, yeah, I guess I am.”  [Huffington Post, 12/6/12]

NY Post Columnist John Podhoretz: “Republicans have a bad hand to play when it comes to the “fiscal cliff” coming up Jan. 1, when taxes will rise automatically on everyone and whopping defense cuts will be imposed automatically.  The truth is, every way you look at it, the GOP is trapped. Republican politicians will cave and give the president most of what he wants…The only real question is when. The answer is: Probably at the worst possible time, when they’ve done even more damage to the party’s‘brand.’”  [NY Post, 12/5/12]

Daily Caller Columnist Matt K. Lewis:  “Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how Republicans have anything but bad options regarding the fiscal cliff. At least, not in the short term… This hasn’t stopped some conservative pundits from acting as if Republicans hold all the cards. But the notion that Republicans have leverage is silly. It’s the same kind of happy thinking that led some to boldly predict a Romney victory.”  [Daily Caller, 11/30/12]

Washington Examiner Editorial Writer Conn Carroll: “But as a backup plan, passing a tax cut for 98 percent of Americans, while avoiding any of the additional new stimulus spending that Obama is asking for, may be the best Republicans can hope for right now.” [Conn Carroll Column, Washington Examiner, 12/5/12]

NY Times Columnist David Brooks: “So Republicans have to realize that they are going to cave on tax rates.” [New York Times, 12/4/12]

National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru: “The low-risk [option] is to pass an extension of the middle-class tax cuts, which presumably the Democrats would have to pass, and watch taxes for high earners rise. That way at least Republicans wouldn’t get blamed for middle-class tax increases. That second option isn’t great. But it’s better than some of the possible deals I’ve been reading and hearing about.” [National Review, 11/30/12]

Wall Street Journal Editorial: “This is where Mr. Norquist can give some ground. If taxes are going up anyway because the Bush rates expire, and Republicans can stop them from going up as much as they otherwise would, then pledge-takers deserve some credit for that.” [Wall Street Journal, 11/27/12]

 Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN): “So, and a lot of people are putting forth a theory and I actually think it has merit where you go ahead and give the president the 2 percent increase that he is talking about, the rate increase on the top 2 percent.” [Fox News Sunday, 12/9/12]

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE): “Sen. Mike Johanns edged Friday toward willingness to consider an increase in the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans as part of a fiscal cliff agreement if it also includes ‘a good-faith down payment’ on reducing entitlement spending. ‘You know, I think there is an opportunity there,’ Johanns told Bloomberg TV anchor Al Hunt when he asked whether Republicans could go along with a Democratic plan that would restore the top tax rate to 39.6 percent with a promise that it could be revisited next year.” [Lincoln Journal Star, 12/7/12]

GROWING NUMBER OF GOP LAWMAKERS AGREE

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK): “Personally, I know we have to raise revenue; I don’t really care which way we do it.  Actually, I would rather see the rates go up than do it the other way, because it gives us greater chance to reform the tax code and broaden the base in the future.” [The Hill, 12/5/12]

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME): “Representative (Tom) Cole’s (R-Okla.) proposal to proceed with an extension of tax relief for working families making $250,000 or less has merit because everyone agrees lower and middle-income families should not be subjected to higher taxes. I believe that very wealthy individuals — millionaires and billionaires — should pay a greater percentage of their income in taxes to help us reduce the soaring deficit.” [Portland Press Herald, 12/6/12]

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME): “Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, who is retiring, joined a handful of other Republicans on Tuesday suggesting that Congress should pass the middle-class tax cut extensions now, then leave the fight over taxes and spending until later. Americans, she said, ‘should not even be questioning that we will ultimately raise taxes on low- to middle-income people.’ Congress could take that off the table ‘while you’re grappling with tax cuts for the wealthy,’ she said.” [NY Times, 12/5/12]

Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX): “Separately, Representative Kay Granger of Texas is endorsing Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole’s call to extend all tax cuts for middle-class earners as ‘just the right thing to do.’” [Bloomberg, 12/5/12]

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC): “I would probably vote for it at that point.” [Huffington Post, 12/4/12]

Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH): “Rate increase, if the package includes significant entitlement reform that gets you to $4 to $6 trillion (in deficit savings) over 10 years, I would vote for that.” [The Associated Press, 11/30/12]

Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH): “If it gets us past the fiscal cliff and the president is willing to consider meaningful savings in entitlements, it’s a legitimate solution.” [The Associated Press, 11/30/12]

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK): “I think we ought to take the 98 percent deal right now.” [Politico, 11/27/12]

Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA): “I have to say that if you’re going to sign me up with a camp, I like what Tom Cole has to say.” [CNN, 11/29/12]

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID): “I wouldn’t have a problem with letting those tax rates go up.” [Reuters, 11/29/12]

Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL): “Tom Cole is talking about passing the ones that are out there so there could be more certainty, and I think that would be a positive step.” [NY Times, 11/29/12]

CONSERVATIVE OPINION MAKERS ALSO SEE WRITING ON WALL

Bill Kristol: “My view is, get the tax issue off the table. It’s the weakest one for Republicans right now.”  [Fox News Sunday, 12/9/12]

Anne Coulter:  Coulter: “OK fine, let’s do that, but in the end, at some point, if the Bush tax cuts are repealed and everyone’s taxes go up, I promise you Republicans will get blamed for it.  It doesn’t mean you cave on everything, but there are some things Republicans do that feed into what the media is telling America about Republicans.” Hannity: “So are you saying that, for PR purposes, that they should give in to Obama on the tax rate?”  Coulter: “Not exactly, I–Well, yeah, I guess I am.”  [Huffington Post,12/6/12]

NY Post Columnist John Podhoretz: “Republicans have a bad hand to play when it comes to the “fiscal cliff” coming up Jan. 1, when taxes will rise automatically on everyone and whopping defense cuts will be imposed automatically.  The truth is, every way you look at it, the GOP is trapped. Republican politicians will cave and give the president most of what he wants…The only real question is when. The answer is: Probably at the worst possible time, when they’ve done even more damage to the party’s ‘brand.’”  [NY Post, 12/5/12]

Daily Caller Columnist Matt K. Lewis:  “Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how Republicans have anything but bad options regarding the fiscal cliff. At least, not in the short term… This hasn’t stopped some conservative pundits from acting as if Republicans hold all the cards. But the notion that Republicans have leverage is silly. It’s the same kind of happy thinking that led some to boldly predict a Romney victory.”  [Daily Caller, 11/30/12]

Washington Examiner Editorial Writer Conn Carroll: “But as a backup plan, passing a tax cut for 98 percent of Americans, while avoiding any of the additional new stimulus spending that Obama is asking for, may be the best Republicans can hope for right now.” [Conn Carroll Column, Washington Examiner, 12/5/12]

NY Times Columnist David Brooks: “So Republicans have to realize that they are going to cave on tax rates.” [New York Times, 12/4/12]

National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru: “The low-risk [option] is to pass an extension of the middle-class tax cuts, which presumably the Democrats would have to pass, and watch taxes for high earners rise. That way at least Republicans wouldn’t get blamed for middle-class tax increases. That second option isn’t great. But it’s better than some of the possible deals I’ve been reading and hearing about.” [National Review, 11/30/12]

Wall Street Journal Editorial: “This is where Mr. Norquist can give some ground. If taxes are going up anyway because the Bush rates expire, and Republicans can stop them from going up as much as they otherwise would, then pledge-takers deserve some credit for that.” [Wall Street Journal, 11/27/12]

“While too many Americans in Nevada and across the country continue to struggle, there is no doubt our economy is moving in the right direction. The only question is whether Republicans will jeopardize the progress made so far by forcing a $2,200 tax hike on middle class families, or initiating another destructive fight over the debt ceiling.

“The steps we need to take to keep our economy moving in the right direction are simple. Speaker Boehner should pass the Senate’s middle-class tax cut bill immediately, and Senator McConnell should allow an up-or-down vote on his own proposal to give the President the authority to avoid default by raising the debt ceiling.

“If Republicans refuse to take these simple steps, their focus will be clear:  they are more interested in appeasing the Tea Party than protecting the middle class.”

“The few reasonable Republicans left in Congress agree we need to give certainty to middle-class families now.”

“I still believe there are 26 reasonable Republicans willing to put their promise to serve constituents ahead of their pledge to Grover Norquist.”

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding the failure of the disabilities treaty and ongoing tax and budget negotiations. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

Across the country, Americans are lamenting the lack of progress in negotiations to avoid a massive tax increase on middle-class families. I share their frustration.

But for insight into why negotiations have been difficult, consider yesterday’s failure of the Disabilities Convention at the hands of the Tea Party.

This shouldn’t have been a battle. But extreme elements of the Republican Party picked a fight where there was none.

Thirty-eight Republicans voted against the Convention, including several who were on the record supporting it.

This treaty, already ratified by 125 countries, would hold foreign nations to the same high standard of treatment the U.S. already maintains for people with disabilities.

And it would safeguard American citizens traveling, working and serving abroad.

The treaty has the support of veterans groups and disability groups from around the country.

It wouldn’t cost taxpayers a penny. It wouldn’t require any changes to existing U.S. law. And the issue is as bipartisan as they come. This is what one Senator said about the treaty:

“Protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, ANY person, is not a political issue. It is a human issue, regardless of where in the world a disabled person strives to live a normal, independent life where basic rights and accessibilities are available. Disability rights and protections have always been a bipartisan issue and ratifying this treaty should be no different.”

That wasn’t some ultra-liberal. That was Senator John McCain, a veteran, who broke with the extremists and Tea Partiers in his party and voted to ratify the treaty.

The Convention also had strong support from a number of other leading Republicans, including President George H.W. Bush and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.

Senator Dole, a disabled veteran of World War II who led the fight to pass the treaty, was here yesterday urging Republicans to support it.

One by one, those Republicans greeted the 89-year-old war hero and patriot, who just last week was in Walter Reed hospital.

And then, one by one, all but a handful of them voted against the treaty – ensuring its failure.

But their professed reasons for opposing it had no basis in fact. Even many Republicans acknowledge that.

There is no justification for sending a message / that every individual around the world / who strives to lead a full and productive life / in spite of a disability / does not deserve the same just treatment.

There is no justification for telling disabled Americans – especially those who have sacrificed their very bodies for our freedom – that they do not deserve the same protections abroad / that they do at home.

Yet that is the message 38 of my Republican colleagues sent yesterday.

And these are the same Republicans with whom Democrats are supposed to reach an agreement to protect middle-class families from a tax increase.

It’s difficult to engage in rational negotiation when one side holds well-known facts and proven truths in such low esteem.

That doesn’t mean compromise is out of reach.

But as negotiations continue, I hope my Republican colleagues will keep in mind the oft-repeated words of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan:

“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”

The stakes are high. The days run short. But there is still a quick, easy way out of this predicament.

The House must take up the Senate-passed, middle-class tax cut. The few reasonable Republicans left in Congress agree we need to give certainty to middle-class families now.

Yesterday, Senator Olympia Snowe, the Senior Senator from Maine, who is retiring, said Congress should fight about tax rates for the top 2 percent after we’ve reassured the middle class.

Americans, “should not even be questioning that we will ultimately raise taxes on low- to middle-income people.”

If House Republican leaders allow a vote on our legislation, it will pass. Every Democrat will vote for it.

It will only take 26 Republican votes to push the legislation across the finish line.

And I still believe there are 26 reasonable Republicans willing to put their promise to serve constituents ahead of their pledge to Grover Norquist.

“Given the choice between millionaires and the middle class, Republicans sided with the wealthiest few.”

“Democrats won’t pass it. President Obama won’t sign it. And the American people won’t support it.”

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding tax and budget negotiations. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

It’s been nearly three weeks since leaders from both parties commenced negotiations with President Obama to avert the fiscal cliff.

But yesterday, after weeks of delay – and as the days dwindled until taxes are set to go up for millions of families and businesses – Republicans finally showed up to the negotiating table.

And now we know why they’ve been holding their cards so close to the vest: their proposal would raise taxes on the middle class.

Their plan to raise $800 billion in revenue by eliminating popular tax deductions and credits would reach deep into the pockets of middle class families.

Republicans are so intent on protecting low tax rates for millionaires and billionaires, they are willing to sacrifice the economic security of the middle class to do it.

Their proposal was short on specifics. But we know from independent analyses that it’s impossible to raise enough revenue to make a dent in our deficit without doing one of two things: raising tax rates on the top two percent or raising taxes on the middle class.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center called it “mathematically impossible” to reduce the deficit and give more tax cuts to the rich without harming the middle class.

As usual, given the choice between millionaires and the middle class, Republicans sided with the wealthiest few.

In fact, their plan doesn’t just keep rates low for the richest 2 percent – it actually lowers them further.

Democrats’ plan would protect 98 percent of families and 97 percent of small businesses from painful tax increases by asking the top 2 percent to pay a little bit more to reduce the deficit.

Republicans’ plan, on the other hand, is more of the same.

Not only does it balance the budget on the backs of the middle class, it voids our promise to seniors with steep cuts to Social Security and Medicare – all to pay for even more handouts to the rich.

At least now we know where they stand.

Republicans have sought cover by invoking Erskine Bowles’ name, but he has disavowed their plan in no uncertain terms.

We are glad to finally see Republicans joining in the negotiating process instead of watching from the sidelines.

But while their proposal may be serious, it’s also a non-starter.

They know any agreement that raises taxes on the middle class in order to protect more unnecessary giveaways to the top 2 percent is doomed from the start.

Democrats won’t pass it.

President Obama won’t sign it.

And the American people won’t support it.

They are tired of budget-busting giveaways to the wealthiest few – people who have enjoyed growing paychecks and shrinking tax bills for more than a decade.

The American people want a balanced deal. And simple math dictates that a balanced deal must include higher tax rates for the richest few.

Republicans would be wise to keep that in mind as negotiations move forward.

Democrats are willing to compromise.

But we will not consign the middle class to higher tax bills while millionaires and billionaires avoid all the pain.

THREE NEW GOP LAWMAKERS ECHO REP. TOM COLE

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK): “I think we ought to take the 98 percent deal right now.” [Politico, 11/27/12]

Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA): “I have to say that if you’re going to sign me up with a camp, I like what Tom Cole has to say.” [CNN, 11/29/12]

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID): “I wouldn’t have a problem with letting those tax rates go up.” [Reuters, 11/29/12]

Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL): “Tom Cole is talking about passing the ones that are out there so there could be more certainty, and I think that would be a positive step.” [NY Times, 11/29/12]

HOUSE GOP LAWMAKERS: ‘SENATE BILL COULD PASS THE HOUSE’

Rep. Steve King (R-IA): “Conservatives might be able to figure how they can go home and rationalize a vote that included a revenue increase and or a tax rate increase.” [Reuters, 11/29/12]

Spokesman for Rep Tim Scott (R-SC): Such a measure “could pass the House.” [Reuters, 11/29/12]

Anonymous GOP Lawmaker: “Another senior Republican lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that a Democratic bill, which passed the Senate in July and would raise income taxes on families with net incomes above $250,000, could pass his chamber if it got to the floor.” [Reuters, 11/29/12]

It took four months, but Republicans are finally realizing the way back from the fiscal cliff has been right in front of them all along.

In July, the Senate passed legislation to give economic certainty to 98 percent of families and 97 percent of small businesses – to every American making less than $250,000 a year.

For four months we’ve been one vote away from a solution to this looming crisis.

And for four months, House Republicans have refused to act.

Instead they have held the middle class hostage to protect the richest 2 percent of taxpayers – people who have enjoyed a decade of ballooning income and shrinking tax bills.

Now reasonable Republicans are coming around to what Democrats have said all along: let’s reassure millions of middle-class Americans their taxes won’t go up by $2,200 on January 1.

Prominent Republicans are calling on Speaker Boehner to end the suspense for millions of American families.

Republican Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma urged his caucus to pass the Senate’s legislation keeping taxes low for those making less than $250,000.

And conservative, Republican Congressman Tim Scott of South Carolina admitted yesterday that if the Speaker brought our bill to a vote, it would surely to pass.

It’s time House Republican leadership listened to the will of the American people – and the advice of reasonable members of their own caucus.

The way out of this standoff is clear.

Yet we’re left wondering how long Republicans will force middle-class families to wait and worry.

Unfortunately, resolving this standoff won’t eliminate every conflict over our fiscal future.

If we’re serious about reducing the deficit, it will take a balanced approach.

Last year, we successfully worked across party lines to cut a trillion dollars’ worth of spending we just couldn’t afford.

Now, even our Republican colleagues acknowledge budget cuts alone won’t solve our fiscal challenges.

A majority of Americans – 60 percent – want to end needless tax breaks for the richest Americans. Democrats couldn’t agree more.

But we can argue over whether to give more unnecessary handouts to the wealthy tomorrow.

We can discuss balanced, responsible ways to reduce our deficit tomorrow.

Let’s take care of the middle class today.

Too often, it is a challenge finding common ground in Washington.

But as we negotiate a path back from the fiscal cliff, we should also recognize when Democrats and Republicans agree.

We agree taxes should not go up for anyone making less than $250,000 a year – 97 percent of small businesses and 98 percent of middle-class families.

With common ground in sight, we should be able to act today to avert the fiscal cliff for millions of families and business.

Even if we disagree on whether to end tax breaks for the wealthiest two percent of Americans, we should agree to hold the middle class harmless – and do it now.

A single vote in the House of Representatives would get the job done.

Unfortunately, there’s one obstacle standing between Congress and compromise: Grover Norquist.

For years, Norquist has bullied lawmakers willing to put their oath of office or their promise to serve constituents ahead of their pledge to the anti-tax zealot.

His brand of ideological extremism has been bad for Congress and even worse for the country.

So I was pleased to see a few Republicans in Congress distance themselves from Norquist this week.

Several Republican lawmakers have said revenue should be on the table during fiscal cliff negotiations.

Now it’s time for those Republicans to turn happy talk into action.

President Obama and Senate Democrats ran on a promise to end the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy.

Americans raised their voices, cast their votes and supported our pledge.

Congress must act in accordance with the will of the American people.

An agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff must give economic certainty to middle-class families.

It must protect important tax deductions for families and businesses still struggling to recover from the Great Recession.

It must take a balanced approach to reduce spending.

But it must also ask the richest of the rich to pay a little extra to reduce the deficit.

Any balanced agreement will require difficult concessions from both sides.

Clinging to the kind of ideological purity Grover Norquist peddles – saying you’ll never bend or compromise – is easy.

Cooperating with those with whom you disagree is hard.

Doing what’s right for the country – despite the personal cost – is hard.

Legislating is hard.

As we approach the fiscal cliff, Democrats are ready to make tough choices.

I hope my Republican friends – especially those who claim they put no pledge before their pledge to serve their constituents – can say the same.

Senate-Passed Bill is Only One With a Chance to Become Law

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the bipartisan compromise needed to avoid the fiscal cliff. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

In the weeks since our country voted to return President Barack Obama to the White House and a Democratic majority to the Senate, I have spoken often about compromise.

And I remain optimistic that when it comes to our economy – when it comes to protecting middle-class families from a whopping tax hike come January 1 – Republicans and Democrats will be able to find common ground.

President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, once said, “People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable… There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.”

Too often Republicans and Democrats in Washington face off from our entrenched positions – never realizing the solutions to this country’s problems rest not on one side of the aisle or the other, but somewhere in the middle.

However, as we continue to negotiate a responsible path forward, I remind everyone within the sound of my voice of one fact: this Congress is already one vote away from avoiding the fiscal cliff for middle class families and small businesses.

We could solve the greatest economic emergency facing the nation today – if only the House would consider the Senate-passed bill freezing tax rates for 98 percent of American families and 97 percent of small businesses.

As Thomas Jefferson said, we should not put off for tomorrow what we can do today.

Our legislation would give economic certainty to the middle-class, protect important tax deductions for families and businesses and restore balance by asking the most fortunate among us to pay a little extra to reduce the deficit.

It’s also the only bill with a chance of being signed into law by President Obama.

I was dismayed to hear Speaker Boehner once again urge the Senate to take up the House-passed bill extending more tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.

The Senate has already considered that bill – and rejected it on a bipartisan basis.

The Senate has spoken.

And President Obama has spoken. He has promised he will not sign any bill that mortgages our future to pay for handouts to the wealthiest 2 percent.

I only hope House Republicans have been listening.

I also hope my colleagues – Republicans and Democrats, members of the House and of the Senate – used the Thanksgiving break not only to give thanks but also to reflect on the monumental tasks ahead.

And I hope they took time to reflect on the effort it will take to complete those tasks.

As President Eisenhower said, there will have to be compromises.

And seeking the middle of the road isn’t just acceptable – it’s the only way forward.

“Now that the election is over, it’s time to put politics aside, and work together to find solutions. The strategy of obstruction, gridlock and delay was soundly rejected by the American people. Now, they are looking to us for solutions.

“We have big challenges facing us in the months ahead. Democrats and Republicans must come together, and show that we are up to the challenge.

“This is no time for excuses. This is no time for putting things off until later. We can achieve big things when we work together. And the middle class is counting on us to achieve big things in the months ahead.

“That is what the American people expect – and that is what the American people deserve.”

Over the last week, I’ve listened to my Republican colleagues come to the Senate floor to lament how little the Senate has accomplished during the 112th Congress.

I share that concern.

In fact, it’s a wonder we’ve gotten anything done at all, considering the lack of cooperation Democrats have gotten from our Republican colleagues.

I’ve said it before, but this bears repeating. In my time as Majority Leader, I have faced 382 Republican filibusters.

That’s 381 more filibusters than Lyndon Johnson faced during his six years as Majority Leader.

Time and again, my Republican colleagues have stalled or blocked perfectly good pieces of legislation to score points with the Tea Party – and they’ve hurt middle-class Americans in the process.

Even the most noncontroversial, consensus matters – items that would have passed by unanimous consent in the past – Republicans have obstructed or delayed.

Take the bipartisan sportsman’s bill, for example.

The Junior Senator from Montana, Senator Tester, has assembled a broad package of legislation to support the needs of sportsmen across the country.

This measure combines about 20 bills important to the sportsmen’s community – bills that would promote hunting, fishing and recreation.

They would foster habitat conservation through voluntary programs.

And more than 50 national sportsmen and conservation groups support Senator Tester’s bill.

We ought to pass this package in a matter of hours.

This should not be a fight.

Yet Republicans are forcing us to run out the clock on this bipartisan bill.

And, in the process, they’re holding up votes on several other important measures, including: Iran containment, confirmation of our ambassadors to Iraq and Pakistan and the continuing resolution to fund the government for six months.

Republicans say this Congress has been unproductive.

But if Republicans want to know why it’s been unproductive, they should take a look in the mirror.

Benjamin Franklin once said “Well done is better than well said.”

It’s time Republicans stopped talking about how much they want to get things done and started working with Democrats to actually get things done.

“The unemployment rate is falling as we saw the thirtieth straight month of private sector job growth, with the economy adding nearly one hundred thousand new jobs. While our recovery is still moving too slowly for many Americans, job growth would likely have been even stronger if Republicans had not blocked Democratic efforts to hire more teachers, firefighters and police officers.

“At the end of the day, too many people in Nevada and across America are still struggling to get by. The best way to speed up our recovery is for Republicans to stop their knee-jerk obstruction of every effort Democrats put forward, and start working across the aisle to find common ground. Next week, the Senate will vote to give employers incentives to hire veterans, so our heroes are not left out in the cold when they return home. This is a common-sense jobs bill, and I hope Republicans will join Democrats in supporting it.

“The Republican leader said his single most important goal was defeating President Obama. To speed up our recovery, it’s time for Republicans to put politics aside, and join Democrats to make the middle class their top priority.”

“As we pause on Labor Day to celebrate our hard-working middle class, we know that too many working men and women in Nevada and across the country are still struggling to regain their footing. Our economic recovery will not be complete until everyone who wants a job can find one.

“It is not enough to simply pay lip service to our nation’s workforce. Americans are looking to their elected leaders for action that will grow the middle class. Republicans will have another chance to join Democrats on common-sense, job-creating legislation when the Senate votes to give businesses incentives to hire veterans, and ensure that our nation’s heroes are not left out in the cold when they return home. And if Republicans would drop their obstruction, we could take action immediately to protect the middle class from the fiscal cliff by cutting taxes for 98 percent of Americans, and asking millionaires to pay their fair share towards deficit reduction.

“Unfortunately, Republicans have made it clear that their single most important goal is defeating President Obama, not growing the middle class. American workers and their families need Republicans in Congress to put politics aside, and make putting Americans back to work their top priority.”

“By picking Representative Paul Ryan, Governor Romney has doubled down on his commitment to gut Social Security and end Medicare as we know it. Romney’s choice demonstrates that catering to the Tea Party and the far-right is more important to him that standing up for the middle class.

“The months ahead will provide Americans with a clear choice between the Romney-Ryan plan to gut Social Security and Medicare, and Democrats’ balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines smart spending cuts with asking millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. Democrats in the Senate look forward to engaging in that debate.”

MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUTS: Senate Democrats Passed Legislation to Cut Taxes for 114 Million Middle Class Families. Senate Democrats led the passage of legislation to extend middle-class tax cuts for the 98% of Americans making less than $250,000, preventing a $1,600 tax hike on 114 million middle-class families. House Republicans are willing to add nearly $1 trillion to the deficit and hit 25 million families with a tax hike by ending credits for raising children and paying for college. [Vote 184, 7/25/12; National Economic Council, 7/12]

FARM BILL: Senate Democrats Passed Legislation to Strengthen the Rural Economy. In June, Senate Democrats passed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act, which would invest in successful jobs initiatives, help increase export opportunities, make it easier for farmers to sell locally and access capital, support innovation in bio-manufacturing and bio-energy, and support farmers and small businesses owners who have suffered disasters, while saving tens of billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse. American agriculture supports 16 million jobs. [Vote 164, 6/21/12; Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, 6/12]

POSTAL REFORM: Senate Democrats Passed Legislation to Modernize the United States Postal Service. In April, Senate Democrats passed legislation to modernize the postal service and give it the flexibility to maintain critical functions while adapting to changes in the way people use the mail system. The United States Postal Service is the country’s second largest civilian employer and sustains over 8 million jobs. The House has been idle in the face of the Post Office’s first ever default – on $5.5 billion of future retiree health benefits. [Vote 82, 4/25/12;Envelope Manufacturers Association, 3/11; Reuters, 8/2/12]

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT : Senate Democrats Passed Legislation to Reduce the Incidence of Violence Against Women.  In April, Senate Democrats passed reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which enhanced emphasis on prevention and response to sexual assault and extended VAWA protections to all Americans.  House Republicans have been unwilling to act on the Senate’s bipartisan, inclusive bill. In the time since the Senate passed its bill, there have been over 1.2 million incidents of violence against women. [Vote 87, 4/26/12; CQ, 4/26/12]

CHINA CURRENCY: Senate Democrats Passed Legislation to Crack Down on China’s Cheating and Level the Field for American Workers. In October of 2011, Senate Democrats passed the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act, which improves currency oversight and includes tougher consequences for breaking the rules. Revaluing China’s currency could create over 1.6 million jobs. [Vote 159, 10/11/11; EPI, 6/17/11]

“Today, the most secretive presidential candidate since Richard Nixon is coming to Nevada, asking to be elected president. Forget about president – Mitt Romney couldn’t get confirmed as a cabinet secretary. Every single nominee overseen by the Senate Finance Committee has to release more tax returns than Romney is willing to release. The contents of the one year of returns he has released would probably be enough to tank his nomination anyway: secret overseas bank accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, tax avoidance tricks and a lower tax rate than middle-class families pay.

“Romney’s tax plan is even more insulting to Nevadans than his belief that he’s above basic scrutiny. His plan is simple: he’ll cut rates for millionaires like himself, and pay for it by raising taxes on middle class families like you. In Nevada alone, more than 1.2 million families could face a tax hike under Romney’s plan, with the average middle-class family seeing their taxes rise by $2,000.

“In short, Romney’s message to Nevadans is this: he won’t release his taxes, but he wants to raise yours.

“It’s hard to say which is more insulting to Americans’ intelligence, Mitt Romney’s tax plan or his refusal to show the American people what’s in his tax returns. Romney seems to think he’s above the basic level of transparency and openness that every presidential candidate has lived up to since his father set the standard in 1968. Thumbing your nose at the people you’re asking to vote for you won’t fly in Nevada, just like it won’t fly in the rest of the country.”

Stay Connected With Senator Reid

“In Nevada and across America there are still far too many Americans looking for work. But we have now seen 27 straight months of private sector job growth, along with encouraging progress in critical sectors such as manufacturing. Our economy is recovering, but recovering slowly.

“The main obstacle standing in the way of a stronger economic recovery is the unprecedented, politically-motivated obstruction from Republicans in Congress. My counterpart, Senator McConnell, announced that his ‘single most important’ goal was defeating President Obama. Republicans have followed his lead, blocking bill after bill that would create jobs and help middle-class families, often without even bothering to pretend they disagree with the bipartisan, common-sense policies they are obstructing.

“The best thing we can do to spur on our recovery is to protect middle-class families from the fiscal cliff. Last week, the Senate passed a bill that would prevent middle-class families’ taxes from rising on January 1. Sadly, House Republicans are holding these middle-class tax cuts hostage, demanding additional tax cuts for the top two percent of taxpayers.

“Instead of spending all of their energy trying to defeat President Obama, I hope my Republican colleagues will listen to their constituents, drop their obstruction, and start working with Democrats. Middle-class Americans expect us to put politics aside and do the right thing for our economy, and they deserve nothing less.”

Reid to House Leadership: “Show Americans You Are Still Capable Of Accomplishing Something of Utility” By Passing Middle-Class Tax Cut

Vows to Keep Senate In Session as Long as Necessary If House Will Ask Millionaires and Billionaires to Pay Their Fair Share

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) responded to a letter from House Republican leadership by reminding them that the sequester cuts – which each of the Republican signatories voted to pass – exist at their behest, and urging them to pass the Senate’s middle class tax cut, which is the only bill to avoid the fiscal cliff that can be signed into law.

“At the insistence of Republicans, and in recognition of the significant savings possible from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sequestration included military and other spending cuts, but not a penny of savings from closing a single corporate tax loophole,” Senator Reid writes. “Given this history, it is shocking that Republicans now want to renounce the spending cuts required by sequestration, without the balanced deficit reduction it was designed to produce.”

Senator Reid pointed out that the House has wasted the entire year with political show votes, instead of focusing on middle class families.

“For nearly two years, the Republican-led House has ignored the will of the American people by accomplishing virtually nothing of bipartisan substance,” he writes. “I urge you to show Americans that you are still capable of accomplishing something of utility by passing the only bill to avoid the fiscal cliff for middle-class families that has a chance of being signed into law: the Senate’s middle-class tax cut. In contrast, the bill being considered by the House today has already been rejected by the Senate on a bipartisan basis.”

Senator Reid asserted he would be happy to keep the Senate in session if Republicans dropped their dogmatic opposition to asking millionaires to pay their fair share.

“If the House is prepared to ask millionaires and billionaires to contribute their fair share, the Senate is prepared to remain in session as long as necessary to approve an agreement on a balanced deficit reduction package… Sadly, the House has wasted the year on empty, political show votes, while ignoring major job-creating legislation passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis. The Senate’s farm bill, for example, would support 16 million jobs and strengthen the rural economy. Our postal reform bill would sustain over 8 million jobs and modernize the postal service. Yet these and other important bills, such as the Violence Against Women Act, stagnate in the pool of idleness and inactivity that the House has become.”

Full text of the letter is below. Identical copies were sent to Speaker John Boehner, Leader Eric Cantor, Whip Kevin McCarthy, and Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling.

August 1, 2012

The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker
United States House of Representatives
H. 232 – U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker Boehner:

Thank you for your letter insisting that the Senate pass Republican legislation to provide more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, and increase taxes on 25 million families, while reneging on spending cuts enacted in the bipartisan Budget Control Act.

It is worth reviewing how we got here. One year ago, Republicans threatened to force the United States into default unless Democrats agreed to cut Medicare and other programs important to America’s middle class. At the same time, at the behest of Tea Party radicals, the GOP rejected any proposal to ask millionaires, billionaires or large corporations to contribute a penny more to reduce the debt.

Democrats believe these GOP demands remain extreme and wrong. In our view, we should strengthen the middle class, not weaken it. And rather than handing out even more budget-busting tax breaks to those who need them least, we should cut spending responsibly, while asking the super-rich to contribute their fair share.

The vast majority of Americans – Democrats, Republicans and independents – agree with us.

Notwithstanding our deep differences with congressional Republicans, Democrats agreed to join with the GOP to pass the Budget Control Act, which avoided a catastrophic default and called for substantial spending cuts. The Act – which each of you voted to pass – also established sequestration, which threatened even deeper cuts in order to force the hard choices necessary to address our nation’s long-term fiscal challenges in a balanced and fair manner.

At the insistence of Republicans, and in recognition of the significant savings possible from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sequestration included military and other spending cuts, but not a penny of savings from closing a single corporate tax loophole. As Republican Senator Lindsay Graham said just today, “my party has their fingerprints all over [sequestration]. It was the Republican leadership who agreed with the concept…”

Given this history, it is shocking that Republicans now want to renounce the spending cuts required by sequestration, without the balanced deficit reduction it was designed to produce. This would be fiscally irresponsible. It would be more irresponsible, even immoral, to abandon deficit reduction while handing out more tax breaks for the super-rich.

Democrats have no intention of giving up on balanced deficit reduction. At the same time, we fully agree about the importance of avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff. Toward that end, the Senate recently passed legislation that cuts taxes for 114 million middle class families. By not extending tax breaks that only go to the very wealthy, the bill also produces critical savings that could be used to suspend sequestration as part of a comprehensive deficit reduction package.

I strongly urge the House of Representatives to approve these middle class tax cuts as soon as possible. For nearly two years, the Republican-led House has ignored the will of the American people by accomplishing virtually nothing of bipartisan substance. I urge you to show Americans you are still capable of accomplishing something of utility by passing the only bill to avoid the fiscal cliff for middle-class families with a chance of being signed into law: the Senate’s middle-class tax cut. In contrast, the bill being considered by the House today has already been rejected by the Senate on a bipartisan basis.

If the House is prepared to ask millionaires and billionaires to contribute their fair share, the Senate is prepared to remain in session as long as necessary to approve an agreement on a balanced deficit reduction package. Of course, I understand that such an agreement is unlikely in the short term given the refusal of House Republicans to work on a bipartisan basis to create jobs or pass any substantive legislation that has a chance of becoming law. Sadly, the House has wasted the year on empty, political show votes, while ignoring major job-creating legislation passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis. The Senate’s farm bill, for example, would support 16 million jobs and strengthen the rural economy. Our postal reform bill would sustain over 8 million jobs and modernize the postal service. Yet these and other important bills, such as the Violence Against Women Act, stagnate in the pool of idleness and inactivity that the House has become.

While it is unfortunate that the House has temporarily been overtaken by partisanship and ideological extremism, I remain confident that, in time, we will be able to work together to address the serious problems facing our nation. As you must recognize, holding the middle class hostage in support of multi-millionaires is not a sustainable position. And surely, eventually, sequestration will overcome ideological extremism, as intended, and help force an agreement.

Whenever you are ready, Democrats will work with you cooperatively to strengthen the middle class, rebuild our economy, and address our nation’s long term fiscal challenges in a balanced and fair manner.

Best regards.

Sincerely,

HARRY REID
Majority Leader

I was pleased to hear Speaker Boehner say last week that he will bring the Senate-passed middle class tax cut to the House floor for a vote.

The nation is one vote away from avoiding the fiscal cliff for middle class families.

Every member of the House of Representatives should have the opportunity to show where they stand: with millionaires or with the middle class.

Members can support Democrats’ plan to cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans while reducing the deficit by almost $1 trillion.

Or they can support the Republican plan to hand out more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires while increasing taxes for 25 million families struggling to put kids through college and food on the table.

The two approaches demonstrate a glaring difference in priorities.

But there’s another difference between the two plans: Democrats’ proposal is the only one with a chance of actually becoming law.

President Obama has said he would sign it tomorrow. What he won’t do is sign into law any more wasteful giveaways to the wealthiest two percent.

And the Senate has already defeated the Republican proposal in a bipartisan vote, so it’s simply a waste of time for House Republicans to continue to pursue their middle-class tax hike.

House Republicans should stop holding the middle class hostage to extract more tax cuts for the richest of the rich. They should pass our middle class tax cut now.

American families can’t afford to wait until the last moment to find out what their bottom line will look like come January 1.

They’re sitting around the kitchen table today figuring out whether they can afford to buy their first house, send their kids to college or retire.

Republicans shouldn’t force 114 million families to guess whether they’ll have $1,600 less to spend or save next year.

They need certainty now. And one simple vote can give them that certainty.

Today the Senate also continues work to address a problem national security experts call the most urgent threat to our country: weaknesses in our defenses again cyber attack.

Cyber terrorism could cripple the computer networks that control our electrical grid, water supplies and sewers, nuclear plants, energy pipelines, transportation networks, communications equipment and financial systems.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said “a cyber attack could stop this society in its tracks.”

But cyber espionage doesn’t just threaten our national security – it threatens our economic security.

Hackers have already attacked most major corporations and the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Attacks like these cost our economy billions of dollars a year and thousands of jobs.

General James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, said Chinese cyber theft of American intellectual property is “the greatest pillaging of wealth in history.”

“That’s our future disappearing in front of us,” added General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Administration.

In a report released last year, the Chamber of Commerce said government and the private sector should work together to develop incentives for businesses to voluntarily act to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure.

This legislation will do exactly that – establish a public-private partnership to make our nation safer and protect American jobs.

I hope that the Chamber will join the effort to pass this important legislation.

While I personally believe this bill could go further to address threats to critical infrastructure – the networks that operate our electric grid, our water supply and other life-sustaining systems – it is a tremendous first step.

I applaud Senator Lieberman, Senator Collins, Senator Feinstein and Senator Rockefeller for their work on this legislation.

The bill managers are compiling a list of relevant amendments for consideration. I hope we can cooperate to work through that list and pass this legislation by the end of the week.

We can’t afford to fail to address what experts call the greatest security challenge since the dawn of the nuclear age.

Today the Senate will vote on whether to end a filibuster of Judge Robert Bacharach, a nominee from Oklahoma to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

By any measure, Bacherach is the type of non-controversial nominee the Senate would routinely confirm with broad, bipartisan support.

He was reported out of the Judiciary Committee by voice vote.

And he has the support of the two Republican Senators from his home state of Oklahoma.

Senator Coburn, the Junior Senator from Oklahoma, said Friday, Bacherach is “just a stellar candidate, and he ought to get through.”

Yet Republicans have signaled they may block his confirmation.

If they hold up this consensus candidate, it will be the first time an appeals court nominee with bipartisan committee support has ever been successfully filibustered on the floor.

If Senator Coburn and Senator Inhofe withdraw their support for this qualified nominee, blatant partisanship will be to blame.

But don’t take my word for it. Senator Coburn said Bacherach is “an awfully good candidate caught in election-year politics.”

“The Senate passed a plan that will cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans and protect middle-class families in Nevada and across the country from the fiscal cliff. The Senate plan is the only solution that stands a chance of being signed into law to provide middle-class families security. Our colleagues in the House should take up our plan and pass it immediately. There is absolutely nothing stopping House Republicans from passing the Senate’s plan, if they possessed the courage to do the right thing for middle class families.

“To date, Republicans have insisted on holding middle-class families hostage to additional tax giveaways for millionaires and billionaires. Democrats believe we should focus on the middle class, but we have months to debate the right approach to tax policy. In the meantime, the responsible approach is for Republicans to stand up to the Tea Party, meet Democrats on common ground and pass these tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans.”

Republicans claim to share Democrats’ commitment to keeping taxes low for the middle class.

So it’s strange that they have repeatedly blocked votes on our proposal to cut taxes for 98 percent of American families.

Two week ago, Republicans seemed eager to have these votes.

They wanted to vote on our proposal to cut taxes for families making less than $250,000 a year – or 98 percent of Americans.

And they wanted to vote on their competing proposal, which would actually raise taxes for 25 million families while handing out more tax breaks to millionaires.

Democrats have tried to give Republicans what they wanted.

We have offered to skip their usual procedural delays and hold up-or-down, majority votes on both proposals.

So far they have refused. But the offer stands.

I hope Senate Republicans don’t insist on doing this the hard way.

And why are Republicans delaying votes they asked for in the first place?

They know a majority of Senators – and a majority of Americans – supports our plan to help middle-class families.

Our plan gives 114 million taxpayers – 98 percent of American families – certainty their taxes won’t go up.

And it reduces the deficit by almost $1 trillion by ending wasteful tax breaks for the rich.

Senate Republicans’ proposal takes a very different approach.

It extends tax breaks for the top 2 percent of Americans. But it fails to extend tax cuts that help middle-class families.

Their plan would hike taxes by another $1,000 for middle-class families while handing out an extra $160,000 tax break to every millionaire.

Democrats will simply never agree we should hand out more tax breaks to the richest 2 percent of Americans.

But that shouldn’t stop us from protecting the other 98 percent of Americans – and doing it today.

Cyber Security

Over the last few days, some of my Republican colleagues have suggested the Senate should delay action on what national security experts have called the most pressing threat facing our nation.

Instead of considering bipartisan cyber security legislation, they say we should first consider the annual Defense Authorization bill.

I argue we need to move rapidly to address the gaping hole in our defenses against cyber attack.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said that cyber threats will soon overtake terrorism as the most significant threat to our national security.

A bipartisan group of national security experts – led by former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell – said cyber threats represent “one of the most serious challenges to our national security since the onset of the nuclear age.”

And the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, Senator McCain, said:

“We must act now and quickly develop and pass comprehensive legislation to protect our electric grid, air traffic control system, water supply, financial networks and defense systems and much more from a cyber attack.”

That was a year ago. The threat has only grown more urgent.

And failing to act on cyber security legislation not only puts our national security at risk, it recklessly endangers members of our Armed Forces and their missions around the world.

Service members themselves have been repeatedly targeted by cyber actors.

In one hack last year, more than 90,000 military email addresses and passwords were stolen, and in another hack of the TRICARE system 4.9 million medical records were stolen.

If we are serious about protecting our troops, we must protect them against cyber attacks.

But acting to secure our critical networks doesn’t mean we won’t also pass a defense bill.

I do, however, have some specific concerns about the Defense Authorization bill.

I will not allow the defense bill to become an end-run around the bipartisan Budget Control Act.

If we are to going to debate the Defense bill, House and Senate Republicans need to make it clear that they are willing to abide by the budget levels set by that law.

We must also ensure the defense bill is not used as a platform to advance irrelevant, partisan agendas.

Remembering Agent Gibson and Officer Chestnut

Last week, this nation was reminded how fragile life is, and how quickly it can be taken away by a random, senseless act of violence.

Fourteen years ago, the Capitol community was similarly reminded that we must never take life for granted.

On this day in 1998, two dedicated U.S. Capitol Police officers – Special Agent John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut – gave their lives while protecting this building and the people in it.

But their lives were not spent in vain. The tragedy of that day made the Capitol a safer place.

It led to the construction of the Capitol Visitor Center, which prevents a madman like the one who shot Agent Gibson and Officer Chestnut from entering the Capitol.

And while nothing can erase the pain of losing a loved one, I hope their families take some measure of comfort in knowing Agent Gibson and Officer Chestnut are not forgotten.

Even 14 years later, those of us who work in the Capitol continue to honor their service and their sacrifice.

And we are grateful to the brave men and women who safeguard ‘the People’s House’ today.

The corrosive effect of money on American politics is not a product of the 21st century.

More than 100 years ago, moneyed special interests had already tested the integrity of this country’s political system.

In 1899, Copper billionaire William Clark was elected to the United States Senate by the Montana state legislature. The contest was considered so blatantly swayed by bribery, the Senate refused to seat him.

Clark famously responded: “I never bought a man who wasn’t for sale.”

Incensed Montana voters went on to pass the Corrupt Practices Act via referendum.

Less than a decade later, Republican President Theodore Roosevelt reigned in unlimited corporate giving to political candidates at the federal level as well.

This nation has a long history of curtailing the corrupting influence of money in politics.

But with its Citizens United decision, the United States Supreme Court erased a century of effort to protect the fairness and integrity of American elections.

That disastrous decision opened the door for big corporations, anonymous billionaires and foreign interests to secretly spend hundreds of millions of dollars influencing voters.

For anyone who dismisses this change as politics as usual, think again.

During this year’s election, outside spending by GOP shell groups is expected to top $1 billion – that’s billion with a “B.”

The names of these new front groups contain words like “freedom” and “prosperity.”

But make no mistake – there is nothing free about an election purchased by a handful of billionaires for their own self-interest.

Just one of these outside groups, backed by wealthy oil interests, has promised to spend $400 million on negative ads filled with half-truths and distortions of President Obama’s record.

By comparison, during the 2008 election, Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign spent $370 million – total.

So this year one group’s special interest money will dwarf the entire budget of the Republican nominee in the last presidential election.

Democrats – and the majority of Americans – believe these unlimited corporate and special-interest contributions should be outlawed.

But in a post-Citizens United world, the least we should do is require groups spending millions on political attack ads to disclose their largest donors.

We owe it to voters to let them judge for themselves the attacks – and the motivations behind them.

The DISCLOSE Act would require political organizations of all stripes – liberal and conservative alike – to disclose donations in excess of $10,000 if they will be used for campaign purposes.

Safeguarding fair and transparent elections used to be an area where Democrats and Republicans could find common ground.

As far back as 1997, the Republican Leader said, “Disclosure is the best disinfectant.”

In fact, 14 Republicans now serving in this body voted to support stronger disclosure laws in 2000.

Yet last night those 14 Republicans did an about-face. And every one of my Republican colleagues voted to block the DISCLOSE Act.

It is obvious Republicans’ priority is to protect a handful of anonymous billionaires – billionaires willing to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to change the outcome of a close presidential contest.

But today they’ll have an opportunity to reconsider that backwards priority and stand up for the average voter instead.

I hope they join Democrats as we work to ensure all Americans – not just the wealthy few – have an equal voice in the political process.

“The legislation Republicans blocked was a common-sense proposal that provided small businesses with two tax cuts designed to create jobs. Under our proposal, small businesses would have received a 10 percent tax cut on the amount by which they increase their payrolls this calendar year. And to help them expand, small businesses would have been allowed to write off 100 percent of the cost of any major equipment or software they purchase.

“Unfortunately, Republicans played their usual games of obstruction and opposition. There was simply no reason to oppose this bill on the merits, so Republicans manufactured reasons to kill it out of thin air. Republicans claimed they wanted amendment votes, but refused to take ‘yes’ for an answer when I offered them votes on those very amendments.

“Senator McConnell made it clear that his ‘single most important’ goal is defeating President Obama. It’s sad that the middle class has to suffer for Republicans to achieve their political aims.”

This week Republicans continued to make the case that millionaires and billionaires can’t afford to pay even a penny more in taxes.

Meanwhile, a new report shows average tax rates are at their lowest level in decades.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported this week that in 2009 rates fell to their lowest level in more than 30 years.

Much of that decline is thanks to President Obama – who has consistently fought to lower taxes for middle-class families over the last three and a half years.

The average tax rate in this country fell to the lowest rate since 1979 – 17.4 percent.

Of course, that’s still a higher rate than Mitt Romney pays.

But most Americans don’t have the benefit of Swiss bank accounts or tax shelters in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.

As our economy continues to recover, it’s critical we keep tax rates low for the middle class.

They’re still struggling to pay the mortgage, send their kids to college and save for retirement.

That’s why President Obama and Democrats in Congress want to extend tax cuts for 98 percent of American families.

But there’s one group that’s not struggling – Mitt Romney and the rest of the top 2 percent of Americans.

They can afford to contribute a little bit more to get this country’s deficit under control.

Yet Republicans are prepared to block tax cuts for 98 percent of families unless Democrats agree to even more giveaways for the richest of the rich.

As Republicans continue to argue the wealthiest 2 percent can’t contribute even a little more, I urge them to talk to the three-quarters of Americans who disagree.

I urge them to talk to some of the almost 60 percent of Republicans who believe the wealthiest Americans should shoulder their fair share of the responsibility for getting the deficit under control.

And I urge them to talk to a few of the more than 135 million taxpayers who are waiting to see whether Republicans will continue holding their tax cuts hostage.

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding Senator Orrin Hatch’s amendment to the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act, which would raise taxes on 25 million American families. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

Right now the Senate is considering a small business tax cut – proposed by President Obama – that will create 1 million jobs.

This legislation would give tax credits to businesses that grow and hire.

Yet Republicans are looking for any excuse to vote down the proposal for two reasons:

• It has the support of President Obama and Democrats in Congress.
• And it would strengthen the economy, which would help the President.

We know Republicans won’t do anything that helps President Obama – even if it’s good for the economy – because their number one goal is to defeat the President. Mitch McConnell has said so.

So Republicans are hiding behind a procedural trick: filibustering with unrelated amendments.

If there is any doubt about Republicans’ motivation – to kill this legislation – just look at the amendment proposed today by Senator Hatch of Utah.

The first thing Senator Hatch’s amendment would do is eliminate all the tax cuts in the bill.

The amendment would literally eliminate every provision in the bill designed to create jobs.

Senator Hatch’s amendment eliminates the 10% credit for employers that hire additional workers or increase their payroll – a provision that would create half a million jobs.

And it strikes deductions for businesses that invest in machinery and equipment – which would create another half a million jobs.

But the Republican amendment doesn’t stop there.

It goes on to increase taxes for 25 million American families.

Senator Hatch’s amendment would extend tax breaks for the top two percent of Americans. But it fails to extend a number of tax cuts that help middle-class families get by in a tough economy.

Senator Hatch’s amendment will increase taxes by $1,100 for 11 million families trying to pay for college.

Senator Hatch’s amendment would make it harder for 6 million large families to put food on the table. It would increase taxes by $800 for families with at least three children.

And Senator Hatch’s amendment fails to extend the full Child Tax Credit for 12 million families, increasing their taxes by $500.

No one is fooled by this amendment.

We see it for what it is: more Republican obstruction that comes with the added bonus of sticking it to the middle-class.

If that wasn’t enough political theater for one day, my Republican colleagues also claim they’re anxious to vote on President Obama’s plan to cut taxes for 98 percent of American families.

Once again, no one is fooled.

Republicans know very well the Senate will vote on the President’s proposal to give middle-class families certainty they won’t face a tax increase.

We’ll vote on it this work period, as I have already said. They say they want to vote sooner.

So let’s lock in an agreement to vote on:

• The President’s plan to give 98 percent of Americans certainty their taxes won’t go up,
• And the Republican plan to raise taxes on 25 million families.

Democrats are ready to have these votes right away at a simple majority threshold.

Then we can get back to the task at hand – cutting taxes for millions of small businesses that want to expand and put Americans back to work.

Over the last few years, the wealthiest one percent of Americans has taken home the greatest share of the nation’s income since the roaring ‘20s.

But while the bank accounts of a few fortunate Americans have grown, their tax bills have not.

The wealthiest Americans now pay the lowest tax rates in half a century.

And while this generous tax code has been good for their bottom lines, it hasn’t been good for America’s bottom line.

Hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts – handed out disproportionately to the rich by the previous administration – have fueled skyrocketing deficits and a growing national debt.

Democrats and Republicans alike agree we have to reduce the deficit and rein in the debt.

Unfortunately, the same Republicans who say we have to get our fiscal house in order also claim millionaires and billionaires can’t afford to contribute their fair share to that effort.

They say multi-millionaires like Mitt Romney need lower taxes than ever.

Well, let me tell you what – Mitt Romney doesn’t need another tax break. In fact, he’s got so much money he doesn’t even know where all of it is.

Some of it has run off to Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda. No wonder he doesn’t want America to see his tax returns.

So Mitt Romney is doing just fine. And so are the other millionaires and billionaires in this country.

It’s the middle class I’m worried about.

We all know times have been tough the last few years for ordinary Americans struggling just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

The last thing middle class families can afford now is a tax increase.

That’s why Democrats want to keep taxes low for 98 percent of Americans – everyone making less than $250,000 a year.

But while Democrats are focused on how we can help 98 percent of Americans, Republicans are focused on how they can help Mitt Romney and the rest of the top 2 percent.

And they’re willing to hold tax cuts for everyone else hostage just to protect tax breaks for that top 2 percent.

Democrats don’t agree the top 2 percent of wage earners can’t afford to pay the same tax rate they paid when Bill Clinton was president – back when the budget was balanced and our economy was creating tens of millions of new jobs.

Still, we’re willing to have that debate with our Republican colleagues. We’re willing to discuss it reasonably.

But we don’t believe middle class families should wait and wonder, watch and worry whether their taxes are about to go up while Congress has that conversation.

We shouldn’t wait until the last second to act.

This is what one major newspaper wrote yesterday about the need to act:

“The majority of Americans, and the broader economy, should not be held hostage again to another debate over the merits of tax cuts for the wealthy…. There will never be consensus for solving our nation’s budget problems without first ending the lavish tax breaks at the top.”

So I call on my Republican colleagues to help Democrats give 98 percent of American families the certainty and the security they need right away.

I call on them to help us pass a tax cut that will benefit the middle class without bankrupting our nation.

Because it’s time we faced facts: if we’re serious about reducing the deficit, we can’t keep handing out more tax breaks to the richest Americans.

We will have to make difficult decisions about where to cut and where to invest to keep our nation strong.

But whether to keep taxes low for middle class families shouldn’t be one of the difficult decisions.

I haven’t heard one person – Democrat, Republican or Independent – say we should raise taxes on middle class families.

This is an area where we can easily find common ground.

So, what’s stopping us from doing the right thing – right now? I hope it won’t be more Republican hostage-taking on behalf of the top 2 percent.

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

My Republican colleagues talk a good game on taxes.

But Democrats’ record of cutting taxes for small businesses speaks louder than Republican rhetoric.

Since President Obama took office, Democrats have cut taxes for small businesses 18 times.

And today we’ll advance a plan to cut taxes for small firms for the 19th time in just three and a half years.

The Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act would put money back in the coffers of true job creators.

Under our plan, business owners who hire new workers or give raises to current employees would get a 10 percent tax credit.

Our legislation would also cut taxes for firms that invest in new equipment, allowing more than 2 million businesses to grow faster.

These two proposals will create almost a million new jobs.

And economists from across the political spectrum agree this is the most efficient way to give the economy a badly-needed boost.

So if my Republican colleagues want their records to match their rhetoric, they’ll end their filibuster of this worthy measure.

And they’ll vote to support the real job creators – businesses that grow and hire.

Unfortunately, while Republicans agree we should cut taxes, their approach is completely different.

Congressional Republicans want to lavish huge, across-the-board tax breaks on billionaire hedge fund managers and mega-rich celebrities like Donald Trump.

Unlike our proposal, the Republican plan, which passed the House, wouldn’t do a thing to encourage hiring.

More than 99 percent of businesses in America would qualify for this extravagant tax break – even if they didn’t create a single new job or raise wages for one solitary employee.

In fact, fabulously rich so-called “small business owners” like Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton could qualify for these wasteful giveaways.

Even though three-quarters of Americans oppose more tax breaks for wealthiest few, nearly half the benefits of this $46 billion Republican proposal would go to millionaires and billionaires.

Democrats want to cut taxes for small businesses – but the Republican alternative is simply the wrong way to do it.

“I agree with President Obama that we should extend tax cuts for all American families up to the first $250,000 of income immediately. This will protect middle-class families and allow us to reduce our deficit in a responsible manner. Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree that protecting the middle class is the most important priority, so Republicans should stop holding these middle-class tax cuts hostage to extract more reckless giveaways for millionaires and billionaires.

“I will be discussing the next steps in the Senate with my caucus in the coming days. Republicans have claimed they want to reduce our deficit; in the weeks ahead, they will have a chance to do so by joining Democrats to vote to extend tax cuts for all middle class American families on the first $250,000 of their income.”

“Today’s report is further evidence that Congress should be focusing on creating jobs and helping the middle class, not re-fighting old battles for political gain. Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues have decided they would rather focus their energy on political grandstanding and empty, partisan exercises that will not create a single job. As this report clearly shows, it’s time to move on and focus on jobs.

“To help spark the growth we need, the Senate will move next week to vote on a series of common-sense jobs bills, starting with a tax cut for small businesses that is designed to reward hiring and provide incentives for payroll growth. Unless Republicans are truly rooting for our economy to fail, there is simply no reason for them to oppose such common-sense jobs measures. With Americans in Nevada and around the country looking to their elected officials for results, putting Americans back to work should be our top priority, not Tea Party politics or partisan maneuvering.”

The report, entitled “Winners and Losers: Understanding the Ryan Plan’s Potential Tax Implications for America’s Workers,” analyzes the impact on families of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal to replace the current progressive tax code with just two tax brackets – 10 percent and 25 percent – while eliminating the alternative minimum tax.

The report finds that the top 0.1 percent of households would receive an estimated average federal tax cut of nearly $1.18 million in 2015 under the Ryan plan, corresponding to a 14.1 percentage point drop in the federal tax rate.  Lower-income earners (the bottom quintile) would see the slightest tax savings of only $67 and would enjoy just a 0.06 percentage point drop in their federal tax rate.

To pay for the tax cuts, the JEC report finds, Ryan would potentially have to eliminate tax expenditures that deliver significant tax benefits to middle-class workers.  These include tax deductions for mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and charitable contributions as well as the tax exclusions for employer-sponsored health insurance benefits and contributions to 401(k) plans.

After eliminating these tax expenditures, those at the top of the income ladder would still experience a net reduction in taxes – the typical household making more than $1 million will see their taxes fall by more than $286,000 under Ryan’s budget.  However, eliminating these tax expenditures would increase the tax burden facing middle-class workers:  a household making between $50,000 and $100,000 would face a tax increase of at least $1,358.

“We’ve seen this movie before and it doesn’t end well,” said JEC Chairman Casey.  “The Ryan plan doles out tax cuts for the wealthy and asks the middle class to pick up the bill.  This new JEC report makes clear that the middle class will be hit hard by the Ryan proposal.   To pay for his tax cuts, Chairman Ryan has no choice but to eliminate or drastically reduce tax benefits that help middle-class families meet their health care needs, pay for their homes, and save for their retirement.    This is the wrong approach.  As we recover from the Great Recession, our focus must be on creating jobs and helping middle-class families – not giving the wealthiest few more tax breaks.”

Fundamentally Skewed Priorities in Republican Budget Would Hand More Tax Breaks to Wealthy at Expense of Middle-Class Families

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor today regarding Republican attempts to go back on an August budget agreement in order to protect multi-millionaires and corporate defense contractors at the expense of ordinary Americans. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

Yesterday Republicans continued to filibuster Democrats’ plan to protect 7 million students from skyrocketing interest rates on federal student loans.

What’s worse, they seem proud of it. Not a single Republican voted to allow the debate on this bill to go forward.

But this fight is not over. Democrats have not given up efforts to keep college affordable for almost 30,000 Nevadans and more than 7 million students nationwide.

I hope Republicans will come to their senses, and work with us toward a compromise.

As Democrats work to create jobs and make college affordable, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are operating under a different set of priorities.

In the House, Republican efforts are underway to undo a hard-fought August agreement to cut more than 2 trillion from the deficit over the next decade.

But the Republican budget and their so-called reconciliation bill don’t just renege on that bipartisan, bicameral agreement to reduce spending.

They reflect fundamentally skewed priorities. They hand out even more tax breaks to multi-millionaires and shield corporate defense contractors, all at the expense of hard-working, middle-class families, the elderly and those in greatest need.

They would slash investments that strengthen our economy and shred the social safety net.

President Dwight Eisenhower once said: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

In a balanced world – one where a strong national defense and a strong social safety net are both valuable pillars of a successful society – that need not necessarily be true.

But the Republican plan would enshrine into law a set of truly unbalanced priorities – and ensure the kind of terrible math Eisenhower envisioned.

Unlike defense contractors and billionaires, ordinary Americans don’t have high-priced lobbyists to protect them. That’s our job.

But Republicans are going after those who can’t fight back – hard-working Americans and struggling families.

Let’s review a bit of history. The sequester isn’t the first bipartisan agreement to reduce the deficit.

Over the years there have been many efforts to reach comprehensive, bipartisan solutions to our deficit.

There was the Fiscal Commission, Bowles-Simpson, the Gang of Six and the Supercommittee. They all failed.

Although President Obama was willing to make difficult concessions to achieve meaningful deficit reduction, Republicans and Speaker Boehner could never go against Grover Norquist.

This is a Grover Norquist Congress.

So we’re left with the threat of almost $500 billion in cuts to domestic programs and almost $500 billion in cuts to defense programs.

Democrats agree the sequester – which includes across the board cuts both to domestic spending and the defense budget – is far from the ideal way to solve our nation’s fiscal problems.

It’s a tough pill to swallow. But that was the point.

Those cuts were designed to be tough enough to force lawmakers to compromise.  They were designed to be tough enough to force the two sides to reach to a balanced deal.

But Republicans refused to be reasonable. They refused to raise even a penny of new revenue, or ask millionaires to contribute their fair share to help reduce our deficit and our debt.

I’d like to read a short excerpt from a piece by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein from the Washington Post.

They eloquently describe the GOP’s unwillingness to compromise here:

“We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.”

They went on to say:

“The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”

Republicans insisted on balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class, seniors, students, single mothers and so many others who could least afford it.

And it is their intransigence – their refusal to compromise – that leaves us facing the threat of the sequester, and its difficult but balanced cuts.

Going back on the August budget agreement now in order to protect wealthy special interests is no solution.

Neither is refighting the battles of last year.

Democrats agree we must reduce our deficit and make hard choices.

But we believe in a balanced approach that shares the pain as well as the responsibility.

Is the sequester the best way to achieve that balance? Absolutely not.

But Republicans refuse to consider a more reasonable approach – one that asks every American to pay his fair share while making difficult choices to reduce spending.

And Democrats won’t agree to a one-sided solution that lets the super-wealthy off the hook while forcing the middle class, and those in greatest need, to bear all the hardship.

Democrats believe we can protect Americans’ access to health care, create jobs while investing in the future and protect the poor and elderly.

And we can do all that while reducing the deficit in a responsible, even-handed way.

But we can’t do it alone. It will take hard work and compromise.

And so far Republicans have been unwilling to make a serious effort to achieve that compromise.

Republicans have rejected our balanced approach. Their one-sided solution to across-the-board cuts would take from the many to give to the few.

So, here’s what their plan would do:

• Cut Medicaid benefits, increasing the number of uninsured children, parents, seniors and people with disabilities by 300,000. It would also put seniors in nursing homes at risk.
• Punish Americans who receive tax credits to purchase health insurance when their financial circumstances change – causing 350,000 Americans to forgo coverage.
• Weaken Wall Street reforms, protecting big banks at the expense of consumers.
• Once again target middle-class workers, including food inspectors, air traffic controllers and border patrol, drug enforcement and FBI agents.
• Cut funding for preventive health care programs that fight chronic illnesses – such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes – that cause 70 percent of deaths in America.
• Slash Block Grant funding that allows states to help 23 million children, seniors and disabled Americans live independently and out of poverty.

No segment of the population is immune from the pain of this Republican plan – except maybe millionaires, billionaires and wealthy corporations.

The Republican proposal cuts Meals on Wheels for seniors.

It reduces food assistance for 1.8 million needy people.

And it cuts off 280,000 kids from free school lunches at a time when one in five children lives in poverty.

That’s why the U.S. Conference of Catholic of Bishops said the Republican plan fails a “basic moral test.”

This budget sets very clear priorities. The problem is, they’re the wrong priorities.

President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.”

Republicans would do well to remember our nation is judged not only by the strength of its military, but also by the strength of its values.

“Sequestration is a tough pill to swallow. But that was the point. Those cuts were designed to be tough enough to force lawmakers to compromise. They were designed to be tough enough to force the two sides to reach a balanced deal.

“But Republicans refused to be reasonable. They refused to raise even a penny of new revenue, or ask millionaires to contribute their fair share to help reduce our deficit and our debt. Republicans insisted on balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class, seniors, students, single mothers and so many others who could least afford it. And it is their intransigence – their refusal to compromise – that leaves us facing the threat of the sequester, and its difficult but balanced cuts.

“Democrats agree we must reduce our deficit and make hard choices. But we believe in a balanced approach that shares the pain as well as the responsibility.”

“Senate Democrats stood up for the right of working men and women to organize and negotiate their terms of employment through an enforceable contract. This rule gives workers the same rights that CEOs already enjoy – nothing more and nothing less.

“Republicans continue to push measures that squeeze the middle class while protecting the wealthiest Americans. Had Republicans succeeded in their effort today, executives could have continued using lawsuits and intimidation to thwart their employees’ ability to bargain. Democrats will continue to fight for American workers. I hope that my Republican colleagues finally start putting the middle class ahead of the interests of millionaires.”

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.”

“More than 160 million American workers will keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets this year thanks to this bipartisan compromise. More than four million unemployed Americans will continue receiving checks that help them pay the rent and buy groceries while they look for a job, and millions of seniors on Medicare will continue to have access to their doctors. I fought to prevent Republicans from making extreme cuts to unemployment insurance in hard-hit states like Nevada that need assistance as our economy continues to recover.

“In the end, both sides compromised for the good of our country, which is exactly how the American people expect their elected leaders to work.

“I commend the members of the conference committee for their diligence and dedication throughout this process. This bipartisan victory will help our fragile economy as it continues to gain steam. More needs to be done, but this is an important step forward. I hope the spirit of compromise shown by Republicans today will continue as we work together to keep our economy growing.”

I am pleased that today the Senate will pass the Aviation Jobs conference report.

This measure is the first long-term reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration in almost five years.

The FAA has worked under 23 short-term extensions since 2007. In fact, the FAA shut down for two weeks last year.

The four-year compromise we’ll pass this evening didn’t give everyone everything they wanted. But it will finally give the FAA the stability it needs to properly maintain a world-class air travel system.

The Aviation Jobs Bill will also create thousands of jobs, protect airline workers and improve safety for travelers. This legislation will create and protect more than 300,000 badly needed jobs.

And it will give the FAA the ability to finally upgrade this country’s air-traffic control system.

Today America relies on World War II-era technology to track aircraft and guide them in for safe landings. An upgrade to modern, satellite technology is long overdue.

The Aviation Jobs Bill will finally make that critical investment possible. It will invest more than $24 billion in airports and runways across the nation, and on modern air traffic control equipment.

I am glad that Democrats and Republicans were finally able to reach this compromise.

I wish the spirit of compromise would also extend to ongoing conference committee negotiations on a year-long payroll tax cut.

I was dismayed to read this morning that rank-and-file Republicans in both chambers are on the fence over whether we should extend this break for working families at all.

More than 160 million American workers will benefit, with the average family saving $1,000 this year.

But Republicans are questioning whether Americans really need that extra cash. And they are once again playing politics and putting our economy at risk as time to reach a compromise runs out.

Democrats have offered to meet them halfway, but Republicans won’t take yes for an answer.

In exchange for extending this middle-class tax break, Republicans are insisting we pass unrelated, ideological legislation that will make our water less safe to drink.

And they’re refusing to close tax loopholes, such as giveaways to oil companies making record profits. Instead they insist on more handouts to millionaires and billionaires before they’ll do anything to benefit the middle class.

The American people have spoken, and they’ve spoken clearly: working families need this $1,000 to put food on the table and gas in the car.

And they won’t tolerate Republicans holding their money hostage to extort political payback, as they did before.

I thought Republicans got the message in December, when they took a beating for opposing this tax cut. I hope they won’t pick this losing fight a second time.

But if they do chose to fight Democrats as we try to put money back in the pockets of 160 million working Americans, the outcome will eventually be the same.

Democrats will not give in when it comes to protecting middle-class families.

That’s why we will prepare a fallback plan in case Republicans refuse to cooperate.

Our legislation will prevent a tax hike on middle-class families, extend unemployment benefits, protect seniors on Medicare from losing their doctors and extend expire tax provisions.

And it will be free of unrelated, ideological legislation designed to please the radical right. Stopping a $1,000 tax increase on virtually every American family is too important to be bogged down with sweeteners for the Tea Party.

Senate Democrats will be prepared to act with or without Republican cooperation.

Republicans must make a choice. They can force a $1,000 tax increase on American families to strengthen the Tea Party. Or they can compromise to strengthen the middle class. The choice is theirs.

In case it wasn’t already clear that the House GOP’s call for a “conference committee” was simply a ploy to bury the payroll tax cut, just look at who Speaker Boehner has selected to “negotiate” for the House GOP. It’s a veritable “who’s who” of payroll tax cut opponents.

Boehner: “There’s no disagreement here.  There’s no disagreement at all.  About the fact that everyone wants to extend this for the next year.”  [Boehner Floor Speech, 12/20/11]

…Except They Didn’t:

Boehner: Payroll Tax Cut Is A “Little Short-Term Gimmick.”  “House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, called proposals to extend or expand the payroll tax cut ‘another little short-term gimmick.’”  [AP, 6/23/11]

Cantor Spokesman: “Better Ways to Grow Economy” Than Payroll Tax Cut.   Cantor spokesman said: “If the goal is job creation, Leader Cantor has long believed that there are better ways to grow the economy and create jobs than temporary payroll tax relief.”  [New York Times, 8/25/11]

“It is unconscionable that Speaker Boehner is blocking a bipartisan compromise that would protect middle-class families from the tax hike looming on January 1st – a compromise that Senator McConnell and I negotiated at Speaker Boehner’s own request. First Senator McConnell would not let the Senate vote on the House’s payroll tax cut bill because he knew it would fail, now Speaker Boehner won’t let the House hold an up-or-down vote on the Senate’s bipartisan compromise because he knows it would pass.

“As the clock ticks towards a middle-class tax hike, I would implore Speaker Boehner to listen to the sensible Senate Republicans and courageous House Republicans who are calling on him take the responsible path, and pass the Senate’s bipartisan compromise to hold middle class families harmless while we negotiate a yearlong extension. I have been trying to negotiate a yearlong extension with Republicans for weeks, and I am happy to continue doing so as soon as the House of Representatives passes the bipartisan compromise to protect middle-class families, but not before then.”

“Speaker Boehner should allow an up-or-down vote on the compromise that Senator McConnell and I negotiated at Speaker Boehner’s request, and which was supported by 89 Republican and Democratic senators.

“With millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet, it would be unconscionable for Speaker Boehner to block a bipartisan agreement that would protect middle-class families from the thousand-dollar tax increase looming on January first. It is time for Speaker Boehner to follow through.

“The bipartisan consensus behind the Senate’s approach has grown stronger since we passed our compromise legislation. Senator McConnell said that our bill is ‘designed to pass,’ and I was encouraged to see courageous Republicans in both the House and Senate speak out against Speaker Boehner’s decision to put politics ahead of middle-class Americans’ economic security.

“I have been working for weeks to negotiate a year-long extension with Republicans. But as we approach the end of the year, it is time to make sure that no matter what else happens, middle class families will not wake up to a tax increase on January 1st. I am happy to continue negotiations on a yearlong deal as soon as the House of Representatives passes the Senate’s bipartisan compromise, and prevents a tax hike from hitting middle-class families.”

###

After Months of Opposing Tax Cut Altogether, House GOP Now Claims Extension Is Too Short

The GOP’s latest excuse for opposing a middle-class tax cut is the most desperate one yet.

After spending months opposing any extension of the tax cut, Speaker John Boehner and other top Republicans now say the Senate’s bipartisan compromise doesn’t extend it for long enough.

Republicans will say anything to disguise their opposition to tax relief for middle-class families.

Take a look at what leading House Republicans have said previously about the payroll tax cut and what they are saying now. You have to see it to believe it…

“My House colleagues should be clear on what their vote means today. If Republicans vote down the bipartisan compromise negotiated by Republican and Democratic leaders, and passed by 89 senators including 39 Republicans, their intransigence will mean that in ten days, 160 million middle class Americans will see a tax increase, over two million Americans will begin losing their unemployment benefits, and millions of senior citizens on Medicare could find it harder to receive treatment from physicians.

“Senator McConnell and I negotiated a compromise at Speaker Boehner’s request. I will not re-open negotiations until the House follows through and passes this agreement that was negotiated by Republican leaders, and supported by 90 percent of the Senate.

“This is a question of whether the House of Representatives will be able to fulfill the basic legislative function of passing an overwhelmingly bipartisan agreement, in order to protect the economic security of millions of middle-class Americans. Democratic and Republican leaders negotiated a compromise and Speaker Boehner should not walk away from it, putting middle-class families at risk of a thousand-dollar tax hike just because a few angry Tea Partiers raised their voices to the Speaker.

“I have always sought a year-long extension. I have been trying to forge one for weeks, and I am happy to continue negotiating one once we have made sure middle-class families will not wake up to a tax increase on January 1st. So before we re-open negotiations on a year-long extension, the House of Representatives must protect middle-class families by passing the overwhelmingly bipartisan compromise that Republicans negotiated, and was approved by ninety percent of the Senate.”

###

o   THURSDAY: Speaker Boehner made public comments promising to live by whatever agreement the Senate reached. He said, “If the Senate acts, I’m committed to bringing the House back—we can do it within 24 hours—to deal with whatever the Senate does.”  [Washington Post, 12/15/11]

o   FRIDAY: Speaker Boehner reacted to reports that we may have to settle on a two-month extension by saying if the Senate passed that, he would take it, add the Keystone pipeline provision to it, and send it back to the Senate. So we added the pipeline into the deal in the Senate because that’s what Speaker Boehner said he needed to get the measure through the House. [CNN, 12/18/11; Washington Post, 12/17/11]

o   FRIDAY NIGHT: After Senator McConnell presents the payroll tax deal to his caucus, he is captured in this video leaving the caucus “high fiving” Senator Barrasso.  Later Senator McConnell tells reporters, “I obviously I keep the Speaker informed as to what I’m doing.”  [CNN, 12/16/11; Roll Call, 12/18/11]

o   SATURDAY: McConnell calls payroll tax cut compromise a bill designed to pass.  McConnell said, “I thank my friend, the Majority Leader, for the opportunity to work together with him on something that could actually pass the Senate and be signed by the President.” [McConnell Floor Speech, 12/17/12]

o   SATURDAY: Speaker Boehner called the deal a “good deal” and a “victory”. According to reports, he urged his caucus to declare victory and pass it, on a conference call. [CNN, 12/18/11; Washington Post, 12/17/11]

o   SATURDAY AFTERNOON: Senator McConnell gave his consent to allow the Senate to adjourn for the year.  [The Hill, 12/17/11]

o   SUNDAY: Once Tea Party Republicans in his caucus rebelled, Speaker Boehner reversed course and is now disowning the deal he had supported 24 hours earlier.  [CNN, 12/18/11; Washington Post, 12/17/11]

“Democrats have worked tirelessly to prevent a thousand-dollar tax increase on middle-class families, but my Republican colleagues wouldn’t agree to long-term tax relief unless Democrats agreed to cut Medicare benefits for seniors. Tomorrow, the Senate will take up and pass a two-month extension of the middle class tax cut, along with unemployment insurance and the so-called ‘doc fix.’ For the next two months, Democrats will work to extend the middle-class tax cut through the end of the year. Republicans can either join us, or explain why they want middle-class families’ taxes to go up.”

“The bill passed by House Republicans tonight is a pointless, partisan exercise. The Senate will not pass it and the President has said he will veto it.  Democrats were ready to have a vote tonight to prove that. But despite calling for the Senate to vote on the House bill ‘without delay,’ Leader McConnell told me he needs more time and will not be able to make a decision until tomorrow morning.

“We need to begin real negotiations on how to prevent a $1,000 tax hike on American families. The sooner we get this vote over with, the sooner those negotiations can begin in earnest. I will speak with Sen. McConnell again tomorrow to determine how soon we can hold this vote.

“On January 1^st, every American worker will have less money to spend on groceries and gas and rent. We can’t let that happen. And we can’t afford to waste any more time.”

In the last month, Republican leaders have repeated this mantra over and over: we support a payroll tax cut for working families.

We have yet to see the proof.

Senate Republicans have twice voted down their own payroll tax cut proposal. And House Republicans were unable to bring their plan to a vote for weeks.

We understand they’re going to have a run at that tonight.

When I served in the House, no one would ever consider pushing something through with a majority of the majority. When I served, the Majority Leader and the Speaker always worked together on a bipartisan basis to get legislation passed.

Now Republicans say they won’t pass anything unless they can do it on their own. That’s unfortunate.

I spoke to the Speaker yesterday. This is what I told him: we are not going to finish the work of our country this year unless we work together.

He can’t pass anything in the House without Democratic votes, because anything you pass with strictly Republican votes fails over here.

In the Senate, we can’t pass anything unless we get Republican votes. It’s a fact of life.

And we have issues, we must complete this year. As I explained to the Speaker yesterday, we have to do this together.

So I’m very disappointed in what the Speaker has done to his payroll tax proposal to get Tea Party votes.

Speaker Boehner had to add ideological candy coating to his bill to get rebellious, rank-and-file Republicans on board.

They added a provision to fasttrack a controversial pipeline proposal attractive to the Tea Party because they believe it is opposed by President Obama.

Congressman Jim Jordan said this about the Keystone XL pipeline: “Frankly, the fact that the President doesn’t like it makes me like it even more.”

But President Obama doesn’t oppose this proposal. That’s not true. He believes it’s an important proposal that deserves proper review.

And, as Secretary of State Clinton said yesterday, if Republicans push him to make an uninformed decision in three months – as this legislation would – he will be forced to deny the permit.

If Republicans push this through, the pipeline is bound and doomed to failure.

That’s why President Obama and Democrats in the Senate have already declared the House legislation dead on arrival. Yet – after weeks of delay – Republicans plan a vote on it tonight.

They are wasting time catering to the Tea Party when they should be working with Democrats on a bipartisan package that can pass both houses.

Democrats have offered solutions – serious, good-faith proposals with bipartisan support.

If Republicans continue to block these reasonable plans to cut taxes for 160 million workers, there will be consequences.

Middle-class Americans will notice when they open their paychecks in January and have less money to spend. And they’ll have Republicans in Congress to blame.

For the third time in two weeks, Senate Republicans have filibustered a qualified nominee.

Last night, they blocked confirmation of Mari Carmen Aponte to serve as ambassador to El Salvador, a job she did well for 15 months. Ms. Aponte finalized an important, international, anti-crime agreement and forged a strong partnership with El Salvodor during her time as ambassador.

Late last week, Republicans blocked the nomination of Richard Cordray to serve as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mr. Cordray has a record of protecting consumers from predatory lenders.

And two days before that, Republicans blocked the nomination of Caitlin Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Ms. Halligan is an exceptional legal mind with an impeccable resume.

All three nominees were qualified. All three had bipartisan support. All three were committed, enthusiastic public servants.

Yet Republicans opposed their nominations for one purely partisan reason – to deal a blow to President Obama.

This kind of Republican obstructionism has unfortunately become commonplace. But it also has consequences.

And Republicans aiming to hurt the President have once again harmed our country instead.

Sen. Harry Reid heard the report and highlighted it on the Senate floor this morning.

“Millionaire job creators are like unicorns – impossible to find,” said Reid.

Today the Senate will vote on two nominations: those of Norman Eisen to serve as ambassador to the Czech Republic and Mari Carmen Aponte to serve as ambassador to El Salvador.

These nominees are accomplished, qualified public servants who will continue to represent their nation with distinction.

For my Republican colleagues, however, being qualified and dedicated is no longer enough.

Last week they blocked the nomination of a “brilliant legal mind,” Caitlin Halligan, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

And they blocked the nomination of Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau despite his obvious qualifications for the job.

He has a long history of protecting the middle-class against unfair practices by financial predators. And he would have been a great asset in our fight to protect Main Street from the kind of Wall Street greed that caused the 2008 financial crisis.

Yet Republicans denied Mr. Cordray’s confirmation to weaken the agency he was nominated to lead.

I hope Republicans will not turn every confirmation process into a political three-ring circus. These candidates – in particular Ms. Aponte – have jumped through enough hoops already.

Ms. Aponte’s accomplished record as ambassador to El Salvador over the last 15 months speaks for itself. And experts on the region from across the political spectrum support her confirmation.

The same enthusiasm is there for Mr. Eisen.

If Republicans block the confirmation of these qualified candidates, it will be for nakedly partisan reasons.

Also under partisan assault this month is a Democratic proposal to prevent a $1,000 tax increase on working families.

Senate Republicans have blocked four proposals to protect middle-class pocketbooks.

Every hour they delay and every day they filibuster is one more the Senate will stay in Washington to get its work done.

Republicans have opposed our plan to pay for this legislation with a tiny surtax on a tiny fraction of America’s highest earners.

The tax would only apply to the second million the wealthiest Americans earn.

But Republicans say the richest of the rich in this country – even those who make millions every year – shouldn’t contribute more to get our economy back on track.

They call our plan a tax on so-called “job creators.” Yet every shred of evidence contradicts this red herring.

National Public Radio went looking for one of these fictitious millionaire “job creators.”

A reporter reached out to business groups, the anti-tax lobby and Republicans in Congress hoping to interview one of these millionaires. Days ticked by with no luck.

Millionaire job creators are like unicorns – impossible to find.

That’s because only a tiny fraction of people making more than $1 million – about one percent – are actually small business owners. And only a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction is traditional job creators.

Most of those business owners are hedge fund managers or wealthy lawyers.

They don’t do much hiring. And they don’t need more tax breaks.

Finally, the NPR reporter looked for millionaire job creators hiding on Facebook. This time, she actually found some.

And they actually supported our plan to ask the richest of the rich to pitch in to improve the economy for all Americans.

This is what Jason Burger, owner of a contracting company that is “hiring like crazy” said about our proposal: “It’s only fair that I put back into the system that is the entire reason for my success.”

Mr. Burger may be a millionaire, but he isn’t one in a million. A majority of people who make more than $1 million a year say they would gladly contribute more to improve the economy.

It’s often said that what is good for business is good for America. But I hope my Republican colleagues remember, as Mr. Burger does, that what is good for America is also good for business.

“Republicans showed yet again that they are more interested in passing tax cuts for millionaires than tax cuts for the middle class. Senate Republicans rejected two proposals to give middle-class families a tax cut.  And House Republican leaders had to entice their members into supporting their proposal by weighing it down with a laundry list of policies whose sole purpose are scoring points against President Obama.

“House Republicans’ bill is a partisan joke that has no chance of passing the Senate, but middle-class families facing a thousand-dollar tax hike on January 1^st are not laughing. Instead of playing political games, Congress should work to find common ground. In the days ahead, I intend to do exactly that.”

Seventy years ago, the attack on Pearl Harbor changed our country forever. It also hardened our resolved to become a better, stronger nation.

The example of the USS Nevada epitomizes that resiliency. While in the port of Oahu on December 7, 1941, the battleship was hit by several bombs and a torpedo. Sixty Americans were killed.

Less than a year later that battleship returned to service.

Today we honor the living Pearl Harbor veterans for their courage and sacrifice.

We also remember the nearly 2,400 Americans who lost their lives that day, and the hundreds of thousands more who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II.

These service members were true heroes. They set a fine example for the men and women who protect our freedoms today. And we will never forget their courage.

Republicans like to claim they are the Party of tax cuts.

But as Democrats propose more tax relief for working families, Republicans are showing their true colors. They only support tax cuts that benefit the rich.

Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell say they agree with Democrats that we should prevent a $1,000 tax hike on middle class families.

But it has become clear that the caucuses they lead do not.

Tea Party Republicans oppose our plan to cut taxes for nearly every family in America. But Republican leaders recognize taking $1,000 out of middle-class pockets during these hard times is political suicide.

Reports today say the bitter division has thrown the House Republican caucus into disarray.

Faced with rebellion in their caucuses, Republican leaders have two options: they can work with Democrats to forge a compromise that can pass, or they can move even further to the right to appease the Tea Party.

As we have seen before, when faced with a choice between the middle class and the Tea Party, Republicans will choose the Tea party every time.

Tomorrow the Senate will vote on whether to move forward with confirmation of Richard Cordray, the nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

My Republican colleagues have signaled that they will block Mr. Cordray’s nomination – but not because he’s unqualified.

For the first time in Senate history, Republicans are poised to block a qualified nominee solely because they don’t like the federal agency he will lead.

Senate Republicans have no problem with Richard Cordray. He has bipartisan support and a long history of fighting unfair practices by financial predators.

Instead Republicans are trying to cripple the new consumer agency altogether by depriving it of a director.

Their attempts to hamstring the consumer watchdog will leave Americans vulnerable to scams and rip-offs.

It is shameful that Republicans would leave consumers in the dark about the risks they face when making financial decisions only to prove a political point.

For 45 years Medicare has been improving and extending the lives of seniors.

Passing the Affordable Care Act ensured Medicare would stay strong for future generations of retirees. But health care reform is also helping today’s seniors by beginning to close the doughnut hole.

This year, more than 2.5 million Medicare recipients, including thousands of Nevadans, saved nearly $600 apiece on prescription drugs.

For some seniors on fixed incomes, those savings prevented difficult choices between food and live-saving medicine.

Medicare recipients have saved more than $1.6 billion so far this year thanks to this provision.

And more than 24 million seniors got free physicals this year because of health care reform.

That’s progress Democrats can be proud of.

Expands and Extends the Payroll Tax Cut For the Middle Class

Cantor: “You Aren’t A Republican” If You Vote Against Payroll Tax Cut Extension. “During the closed-door meeting Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) urged rank-and-file members to support the extension, saying it was necessary for a party that historically opposes tax increases, a leadership aide said. Cantor told members that ‘taxes are a Republican issue and you aren’t a Republican if you want to raise taxes on struggling families to fund bigger government,’ according to a source in the room.” [The Hill, 11/30/11]

Boehner: “If You Guys Think That Not Extending the Payroll Tax Cut Is Politically Advantageous, You’ve Got to Be Kidding Yourself.” According to Roll Call, “House Republican leaders bluntly warned their Members on Wednesday that opposing an extension to a popular payroll tax cut is politically unsustainable. According to a Republican source in the GOP’s weekly conference meeting Wednesday, Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) told his conference that ‘if you guys think that not extending the payroll tax cut is politically advantageous, you’ve got to be kidding yourself.’” [Roll Call, 11/30/11]

McConnell: “Republicans Are Going To Put Aside Their Misgivings And Support This Extension.” McConnell also said, “There’s a lot of sentiment in our conference, clearly a majority sentiment, for continuing the payroll tax relief that we enacted a year ago in these tough times.” [CQ, 11/28/11]

PAID FOR WITH…

… Bipartisan Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Reforms Agreed to During the Joint Super Committee Negotiations…

…Bipartisan Proposal to Ensure Wealthiest Americans Don’t Receive Unemployment Benefits or Food Stamps…

… Asking Millionaires to Pay Their Fair Share With a Small Increase on the Taxes They Pay on Income Over a Million.

Republican Super Committee Proposal Contained Increase in Freddie/Fannie Loan Fees.  [Fox News, 11/21/11]

• Sen. Toomey Called Revenues From Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “Really Noncontroversial, Innocuous Things” “And when presented with the options — you know, we put a deal on the table with the least possibly controversial items, things like a very modest savings of some of the least defensible agricultural subsidies that Democrats and Republicans on the committee said they could accomplish, ending some corporate subsidies, asking banks to pay something closer to a market fee for the guarantees they get from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are really noncontroversial, innocuous things.” [Fox News, 11/21/11]
• Sen. Kyl Said Republicans Agreed to Raising Fees on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “Finally, more in desperation than anything else Republicans said last week, look, if we can’t agree on those things why don’t we agree on what we essentially agreed on. There are a lot of places where the government has surplus property we can sell, where we can raise fees on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”  [CNN, 11/21/11]

Senate Republicans Paid for Payroll Tax Extension By Means Testing Food Stamps and Unemployment Benefits.  Last week, Senate Republicans introduced a proposal to extend the payroll tax cut.  The GOP proposal was paid for by ending unemployment and food stamp benefits for Millionaires. Twenty Senate Republicans voted for the bill. [S. 1931]

• Sen. Coburn Said We Should Not “Pamper” The Well Off With “Unnecessary Welfare”  “This welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations. We should never demonize those who are successful. Nor should we pamper them with unnecessary welfare to create an appearance everyone is benefiting from federal programs.” [Press Release, 11/13/11]

Bipartisan Majority Voted For Payroll Tax Extension Paid For By Millionaire Surtax.  Last week, a bi-partisan majority, including GOP Senator Susan Collins, voted for an extension of the payroll tax cut that was paid for with a Millionaire surtax.  [Vote, 12/1/11]

• Senator Collins Said Multimillionaires and Billionaires “Could Pay More of their Income to Help Us Pay More of the Deficit” “I do believe that multimillionaires and billionaires who are not running businesses could pay more of their income to help us pay more of the deficit,” Collins said Wednesday. [Roll Call, 12/1/11]
• Senator Roberts Suggested GOP Could Support Tax Increases On High-Income Earners. According to the New York Times, “Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, said his party’s plan could involve a small increase in taxes for some high-income people who meet certain criteria.” [NY Times, 11/30/11]
• Senator Johanns Sensed “Change In Mood” On Millionaires’ Tax. “Another Republican senator has opened the door to tax increases on high earners as a way to pay for a payroll tax cut, showing more movement in the party ranks after resistance all year to tax increases.  ‘I sense a change in mood,’ Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska, said Wednesday.’ “It’s a little more bipartisan. My position has always been, ‘Let’s not raise taxes,’ but on the other hand, I don’t want our country to collapses under a mountain of debt. If that means compromise, I am going to do everything to get that done.’” [NY Times, 11/30/11]

Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding a compromise payroll tax cut extension proposal. Below are his remarks as prepared:

Last week my friend, the Republican Leader, tried to convince me Republicans realize it would be disastrous to raise taxes on the middle class.

Here on the Senate floor, he quoted half a dozen news reports as evidence Senate Republicans support an extension of payroll tax cuts for 160 million American workers.

I told him I was skeptical Republicans really support this tax cut. It turns out I was right.

On Thursday Republicans shot down Democrats’ proposal to cut taxes for middle-class Americans, supposedly on the grounds it raised taxes on the richest of the rich in this country.

But a few minutes later Republicans also shot down their own proposal to extend payroll tax cuts, even though it was paid for with their own hand-picked reductions in government spending.

Whatever my friend, Senator McConnell, may say, it is obvious Republicans just aren’t interested in preventing a $1,000 tax increase on nearly every family in this nation from taking effect on Jan. 1.

But Democrats will not relent on keeping taxes low for the middle class. So today Sen. Casey will unveil a modified version of the payroll tax cut proposal he introduced last week.

Like our previous proposal, this scaled-back version will cut taxes for 160 million American workers, including 1.2 million Nevadans. Sen. Casey’s proposal will allow the average family to keep an extra $1,500 to spend on necessities next year.

And like our previous proposal it won’t add a penny to the deficit. It will be fully paid for with a mixture of spending cuts Republicans have already agreed to and a tiny surtax on the top two-tenths of one percent of American taxpayers.

Every spending reduction in the proposal was agreed to by a bicameral group of Republicans on the Supercommittee, so we know they support these cuts.

And, in an effort to make our proposal more palatable to Republicans, we have conceded to significantly cut the surtax on income above $1 million and make it temporary.

Democrats know how important extending and expanding the payroll tax cut is to working families. It’s also important to our economy.

Economists of every political persuasion agree if Republicans block this proposal – raising taxes on American families by $1,000 next month – it will have an immediate, negative impact on our economy. It will halt our still-fragile recovery in its tracks, and drag us back into recession.

We all know Congress can’t afford to play chicken with the economy. That’s why Democrats are committed to passing this payroll tax cut.

Republicans need to be prepared to meet us partway. We are offering a serious proposal with meaningful concessions, including spending cuts Republicans have already agreed to.

And the scaled-back, temporary tax on the very richest Americans – a group with an average income of $3 million a year – is also a sincere attempt to get Senate Republicans on board.

We know a few of them have even said publically that they are open to asking millionaires and billionaires to contribute to our economic recovery. I only hope they have the courage to act on their convictions.

I repeat: this is a serious proposal, and Republicans should take it seriously.

Here’s why: Americans, regardless of political affiliation, say they wholeheartedly support Democrats’ plan to cut taxes for middle-class families.

Fifty-eight percent of Republicans agree we should extend and expand payroll tax cuts for 160 million American workers.

Further, Americans overwhelmingly support our proposal to ask millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share to help this country thrive.

Americans from every corner of the country and every walk of life agree. Democrats, Republicans and Independents agree.

Asked if they support a plan that would require people making more than $1 million a year to contribute a little more to ensure this country’s economic success, the results were decisive: three-quarters of Americans said yes.

Wealthy Americans agree. Two-thirds of people making more than $1 million a year said they would gladly contribute more.

A supermajority of Republicans agrees, with two-thirds supporting the idea. And even a majority – 52 percent – of members of the Tea Party agreed.

It seems the only place in the country you can’t find a majority of Republicans willing to speak up for shared sacrifice is the United States Senate.

Republicans across the country support our plan and the way it is paid for. Republicans in Congress dismiss it at their peril. The American people are watching.

Acknowledging that Republican opposition to middle-class tax cuts was untenable, Republican leaders spent this week trying to convince the world that they supported middle-class tax cuts:

Cantor: “You Aren’t A Republican” If You Vote Against Payroll Tax Cut Extension. According to the Hill, “During the closed-door meeting Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) urged rank-and-file members to support the extension, saying it was necessary for a party that historically opposes tax increases, a leadership aide said. Cantor told members that ‘taxes are a Republican issue and you aren’t a Republican if you want to raise taxes on struggling families to fund bigger government,’ according to a source in the room.” [The Hill, 11/30/11]

Boehner: “If You Guys Think That Not Extending the Payroll Tax Cut Is Politically Advantageous, You’ve Got to Be Kidding Yourself.” According to Roll Call, “House Republican leaders bluntly warned their Members on Wednesday that opposing an extension to a popular payroll tax cut is politically unsustainable. According to a Republican source in the GOP’s weekly conference meeting Wednesday, Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) told his conference that ‘if you guys think that not extending the payroll tax cut is politically advantageous, you’ve got to be kidding yourself.’” [Roll Call, 11/30/11]

McConnell: “Republicans Are Going To Put Aside Their Misgivings And Support This Extension.” McConnell also said, “There’s a lot of sentiment in our conference, clearly a majority sentiment, for continuing the payroll tax relief that we enacted a year ago in these tough times.” [CQ, 11/28/11]

But last night, a majority of Senate Republicans bucked McConnell, voting against the Republican plan and exposing their true colors: Republicans want to give tax breaks to millionaires, but not the middle class.

Washington Post: “In A Surprising Turn, More Republicans Voted Against The GOP Plan Than In Favor Of It.” “All but a handful of Democrats voted in favor of their party’s proposal, but in a surprising turn, more Republicans voted against the GOP plan than in favor of it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) predicted this week that a majority of his conference would vote for the party’s plan to extend the payroll tax cut. The vote suggests that rank-and-file Republicans remain divided on the merits of keeping the tax cut, leaving their party vulnerable to criticism from Democrats that they would raise taxes on the middle class as Americans are struggling economically.” [Washington Post, 12/2/11]

Politico: “Mass Defections Reflect The Payroll Extension’s Unpopularity Among Rank-And-File Republicans.” “The mass defections reflect the payroll extension’s unpopularity among rank-and-file Republicans, even as GOP leaders move to make the Obama proposal more palatable to their caucus and block Democrats from seizing the mantle of the tax-cutting party. The divided conference also portends how difficult it will be for Speaker John Boehner to move a payroll tax cut extension through his chamber without significant Democratic backing… [A] surprising number of Republicans defected from their party’s proposal – 26 in total, despite comments from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week that the GOP would support a payroll tax cut extension.” [Politico, 12/2/11]

Reuters: “Republican Ambivalence Toward Any Extension of the Payroll Tax Cut Was Evident” “Republican ambivalence toward any extension of the payroll tax cut was evident in the Senate as a majority of the party’s 47 senators voted against the Republican plan.” [Reuters, 12/2/11]

New York Times: Republicans Leaders “Struggle”, in “Political Bind” “Republican leaders’ struggle this week to find a strategy that could unite their party reflected the political bind it is in. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans said the policies of Republicans in Congress favored the rich, a New York Times/CBS News poll found in October.” [NY Times, 12/2/11]

Wall Street Journal: Republican Leaders “Fear The Politics Of Allowing A Tax Increase To Hit Virtually All Wage-Earners” “The vote suggests a disconnect between Republican leaders of both houses, who fear the politics of allowing a tax increase to hit virtually all wage-earners on Jan. 1, and many rank-and-file Republicans, who say the payroll-tax cut doesn’t create jobs and oppose short-term tweaks to the tax code.” [WSJ, 12/2/11]

Associated Press: Vote “Exposed Rare Divisions Among Senate Republicans” “But in a vote that exposed rare divisions among Senate Republicans, more than two dozen of the GOP’s 47 lawmakers also voted to kill an alternative plan backed by their leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to renew an existing 2 percentage point payroll tax cut.” [AP, 12/2/11]

Los Angeles Times: “Deep Resistance” Within GOP to Payroll Tax Cuts.  “Both bills met with GOP opposition, illustrating deep resistance within the ranks despite party leaders’ efforts to coalesce around the politically volatile issue.” [LA Times, 12/2/11]

The vote was a rejection of McConnnell’s effort to corral his caucus – Sen. Thune Called Republican Proposal “The Right Way” Minutes Before Voting Against It:

Thune Called The Republican Proposal “The Right Way” “There is a right way and wrong way to do this. This is the wrong way in the Democratic proposal. The Republican proposal is the right way.” [Floor Speech, 12/1/11]

…Minutes Before Thune Voted Against The Republican Plan. [Roll Call Vote 220, 12/1/11]

“This news is a reminder that we must continue using every tool at our disposal to get our economy growing and get Americans back to work. Too many families in Nevada and across America are struggling. One of the most effective things we can do for them is to put  more money in their pockets. Unfortunately, Republicans last night blocked a $1,500 tax cut for the middle class that would have spurred job creation. Republicans proved once again that the only tax cuts they will fight for are giveaways for millionaires and billionaires.

“Democrats will continue our focus on creating jobs. I hope Republicans will put politics aside and join us in fighting for the middle class.”

“Republicans proved tonight they are more interested in tax cuts for millionaires than tax cuts for the middle class. The legislation they blocked would have put $1,500 dollars in the pockets of the average middle-class family in America and across Nevada next year. The bill was fully paid for by asking millionaires to pay just over three percent on their incomes above $1 million.

“Republicans spent this week trying to convince us that they support middle-class tax cuts, but tonight a majority of Senate Republicans voted against their own bill – calling into question whether they support middle-class tax cuts at all.

“I was encouraged to see one Republican join Democrats in asking millionaires to pay their fair share. But because every other Republican continues to insist on protecting millionaires, middle class families could face a $1,000 tax increase next year. Democrats will not stop fighting to avoid that outcome. I hope Republicans will decide that the economic security of hard-working Americans is more important than protecting the wealthiest one percent.”

Yesterday on the Senate floor my friend, the Republican Leader, said he supports an extension of the payroll tax cut that was enacted last year.

I was glad to hear that he had experienced a change of heart since Tuesday, when he said our legislation wouldn’t “do a thing to help the economy.”

But I noticed my friend was careful to say only that he supports existing cuts, not that he supports Democrats’ plan to cut taxes for 160 million American workers and every business in this country.

And last night I found out why. I was disappointed to see Republicans’ alternative proposal was actually a backdoor route to protect the very rich while shortchanging the middle-class and small businesses.

Our proposal would provide deeper relief for working families and expand existing tax cuts to benefit businesses as well.

The Republican proposal rejects this new tax relief. It doesn’t provide a penny of additional tax cuts for working families. And it does nothing for small businesses – the “job creators” Republicans claim to care so much about.

Republicans seem to think our plan – to put $1,500 back in the pocket of nearly every American family and give small businesses the boost they need to hire new employees – goes too far.

They are willing to fight for ever-deeper tax cuts for the wealthy. But when it comes to the middle class, Republicans believe the status quo is good enough for families struggling to get by.

The Republicans plan goes directly against the budget agreement we reached just a few months ago. And while Democrats have been working tirelessly to create new jobs, the Republican plan goes in precisely the opposite direction. Instead of creating jobs, it would cost jobs.

Under their plan, many more middle class families around the country would lose their jobs. That includes Americans dedicated to public service – hard working people committed to educating our youth, or to keep our streets safe.

Do the Republicans really believe that the way to revive the economy is to lay off more FBI agents? Or to fire more border patrol officers? These cuts won’t revive the economy, they’ll only slow it down and cost even more jobs.

While targeting the middle class, the Republicans propose to do nothing to cut back on excessive subsidies for many of the large corporations that benefit from government contracts. Employees at some of these taxpayer-supported corporations are being paid almost $700,000 a year, even while many public servants struggle to make ends meet.

But the Republicans seem uninterested in going after those high income earners. As usual, the only real target of the Republican meat axe is the American middle class. And that’s just wrong.

America’s middle class has been hurting for too long. They’re the people who are struggling. They’re the ones who need help. Not multi-millionaires. And not large, profitable government contractors.

So, M. President, the Republican proposal is unacceptable. And it won’t pass the Senate. We can do better, and we must.

“We are glad Republicans have seen the light and taken up Democrats’ call to pass a middle-class tax cut, just a few days after their leadership indicated they would oppose it. However, Democrats’ proposal would put more money in the pockets of middle class families and create more jobs. The Republican proposal cannot pass the Senate as it stands, but now that Republicans have reversed their position on this middle-class tax cut, we look forward to working with them to negotiate a consensus solution.”

“You should never have to offset cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans”

– Senator Jon Kyl, speaking on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy
[Fox News Sunday, 7/11/10]

Chaser:

“Boehner backs payroll tax cut extension, but says it must be paid for”
[The Hill, 11/30/11]

Republicans love to talk about taxes.

They like them low; we like them high. Or so they would have you believe.

By that logic, Republicans ought to be lining up to support our payroll tax cut legislation.

Democrats propose we cut taxes for 160 million Americans and every single business in the country. The average American family would save about $1,500.

Yet Republicans have appeared out of the woodwork to oppose our plan.

They don’t like these particular tax cuts because of how they’re paid for – with a small, 3.25 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year.

Come to find out, Republicans only care about keeping taxes low for one very small group of people: the richest of the rich.

Here is the contrast:

On one side, you have Democrats fighting to cut taxes for 160 million Americans who each make an average of less than $30,000 a year. On the other side, you have Republicans fighting to keep taxes low for fewer than 350,000 people who each take home about $3 million every year.

And what’s worse, if Republicans get their way – if they successfully side with the richest of the rich over the rest of Americans – taxes will actually increase by $1,000 a year for 120 million households.

Ninety-two percent of American families will be affected.

In other words, Republicans are increasing taxes on nearly every American family to protect people who make an average $37,500 a week – more than most Americans make in a year.

Nearly every household in this country will have $1,000 less to spend on food and clothing and diapers next year. All so Republicans can protect people who earn an average of $3 million apiece.

In Kentucky, home to my friend, the Republican Leader, 2.1 million middle-class workers will be hit with a tax increase if Republicans block our proposal.

But 1,345 Kentuckians who make an average of $3.5 million each will be protected thanks to the efforts of Senate Republicans.

So, why would Republicans throw 92 percent of American families under the bus, whacking them with a tax increase on January 1, to protect the richest of the rich? It sounds like political suicide, not to mention being shockingly callous policy.

So, one might assume there is some compelling reason for Republicans to stake out this seemingly indefensible ground – to take the side of the top two-tenths of one percent of American earners while raising taxes on 160 million others.

Here is their reason: Republicans say they want to protect “job creators.”

Of course, that claim is laughable on its face. Our bill would cut taxes for literally every business in the country. And for 98 percent of firms – including virtually every small business – it would cut payroll taxes in half.

I could quote virtually every member of the Republican caucus singing the praises of small businesses that create jobs.

You won’t hear any disagreement from Democrats. That’s why our bill cuts taxes for every small business in America, including 50,000 firms in Nevada.

Yet, a bill that will cut taxes for 92 percent of American families and every single business in the nation without adding a penny to the deficit may not get a single Republican vote because it would cost a few incredibly prosperous Americans two weeks pay.

And to top it all off, Republicans know the tax increase they’re foisting on middle-class families would be devastating for our economy.

The Economic Policy Institute says this Republican tax hike will reduce GDP by $128 billion and cost 972,000 jobs.

That would send our economy into a tailspin, and it’s impossible to tell how long we would take to recover.

Republicans often say we can’t afford to raise taxes on the top two-tenths of one percent of American taxpayers.

So I ask them this: How can we afford a tax increase on 92 percent of American families?

Senate Democrats’ number one priority this Congress is to pass common-sense legislation – such as tax cuts and infrastructure investments – that will put Americans back to work and revive our economy.

Republicans in the House, on the other hand, are focused on gutting the safeguards that keep our air clean, make our workplaces safe and check the greed of big Wall Street banks.

Never mind that this wholesale destruction of measures that save millions of lives and trillions of dollars each year has no chance of passing the Senate. Never mind that non-partisan experts and economists from both sides of the aisle say their so-called jobs agenda wouldn’t create a single job.

House Republicans complain we have not taken up and passed these policies, which would risk American lives while doing nothing to improve our economy. They insist that we should waste weeks or months on legislation that is both dangerous and proven-to-fail.

But the Senate has too much work to do on legislation that would create jobs without risking American lives to waste time on these ineffectual, purely partisan measures.

Unlike Republicans, our jobs agenda was designed to create jobs, not headlines.

And in any case, the Senate has passed its own share of legislation – 40 pieces, in fact – that has yet to be taken up by House Republican leaders.

The Senate has passed legislation that would stop China from cheating American workers by manipulating its currency, evening the playing field for American exporters and saving jobs.

We have passed a bill to modernize our air travel system, keeping passengers safer and saving money and travel time.

We have passed a measure that would protect lives by keeping our food safe from contamination, to name a few.

House Republicans have refused to take up these worthy pieces of legislation and many others.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have blocked many reasonable jobs proposals with proven track records of success. They are simply too busy rooting for our economy to fail and pursuing an extreme social agenda to work with Democrats to create jobs.

But that won’t stop Democrats from doing everything in our power to get the economy back on track. That’s why Senator Casey has introduced legislation to put money back in the pockets of middle-class workers and small businesses by extending and expanding the payroll tax cut.

This legislation cut taxes for 160 million American workers, saving the average family $1,500 each next year. Those families will have more money to spend the local grocery store or pharmacy, giving communities across the country a financial shot in the arm.

The proposal would also give payroll tax cuts to businesses, including 50,000 firms in Nevada.

More than 1.2 million Nevada workers benefited from the payroll tax cut this year. Under our proposal, they will get even greater tax relief next year.

Payroll tax cuts have also been a boon to the economies of every station in the nation. In Kentucky – the home of my friend, the Minority Leader – 2.1 million workers took home $1.2 billion in payroll tax cuts this year.

That’s why the Minority Leader said in 2009 that a payroll tax cut “would put a lot of money back in the hands of businesses and in the hands of individuals.”

The average Kentucky family will keep $1,330 of their hard-earned money next year under our expanded payroll tax break. And 70,000 firms in Kentucky will benefit from new tax cuts.

In 2009, Sen. McConnell went on to say that, “Republicans, generally speaking, from Maine to Mississippi, like tax relief.”

Yet Republicans already appear poised to block this legislation.

So let’s be clear what a “no” vote on this proposal really means. It’s a vote to deny tax relief to millions of businesses. It’s a vote to raise taxes for 120 million families by nearly $1,000 each.

Republicans who vote “no” will literally be taking money out of the pockets of middle-class taxpayers.

Once upon a time, Republicans rushed to cut taxes, regardless of which tax it was or whether it added trillions to the deficit. Just look at the Bush tax cuts, for example.

Today they are lining up against a tax cut that will put money back in the pockets of the middle-class, ensure businesses have more cash to hire new workers and get our economy moving immediately.

I hope Republicans will work with us to pass a tax cut for 160 million American workers and every business in America.

As my friend, the Republican Leader, said, “Republicans, generally speaking, from Maine to Mississippi, like tax relief.” I hope they remember that today.

Democrats’ Legislation Would Extend Tax Break For Workers, and Also Expand It To Include Employers; Vote Expected Later This Week

Leading GOP Lawmakers, After Demanding Massive Tax Cuts For Wealthy in Debt Reduction Talks, Are Suddenly Cool To Renewing Tax Cuts That Help Middle Class

Washington, DC—Today, U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that the Senate is expected to vote this week on legislation sponsored by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) to stop a huge tax hike from hitting middle-class families.

Unless Congress acts, a two-percent payroll tax break will expire at the end of this month. Casey’s legislation would continue payroll tax cut for employees into next year, and boost it to a 3.1 percent break. The legislation would also cut in half (from 6.2 percent to 3.1 percent) the employer-side Social Security payroll taxes.

The bill was expected to be formally filed later today. It should receive a vote in the Senate later this week.

Economists of all political stripes have called the continuation of tax cut critical for America’s economic growth. They have warned that letting it lapse could push the country back into a recession. But a number of leading GOP lawmakers, after fighting for massive tax cuts for the wealthy in the recent deficit reduction talks, are suddenly cool to renewing a tax cut aimed at middle-class Americans.  On Monday, Senate Democrats urged their GOP colleagues to extend and expand the tax cut, which would put $1,500 into the pockets of the average American family next year.

Key Provisions Of The Middle Class Tax Cut Act Of 2011:

• Provides Tax Cut to 160 Million Workers. The bill cuts in half (from 6.2% to 3.1%) the Social Security payroll tax paid by employees and the self-employed on their wages and salaries for 2012.  Approximately 160 million workers will benefit from this tax cut, with the average family seeing nearly $1,500 in additional take-home pay.
• Cuts the Payroll Tax in Half for 98% of U.S. Businesses. The Senate bill cuts in half (from 6.2% to 3.1%) the Social Security payroll tax paid by employers on the first $5 million of taxable payroll for 2012. This will benefit all businesses, but 98% of businesses will see their portion of the Social Security payroll tax cut in half.
• Gives an Added Incentive for Businesses to Hire New Workers. The bill completely eliminates (from 6.2% to 0%) the Social Security payroll tax paid by employers on the first $12.5 million of an employer’s increased taxable payroll for the 4^th quarter of 2011 and $50 million in increased payroll for 2012.
• Asks Millionaires to Pay Their Fair Share Without Adding a Dime to the Deficit. In order to create or save hundreds of thousands of jobs and prevent a tax hike that would impact 160 million American workers, the Senate bill imposes a 3.25% surtax on modified adjusted gross income in excess of $1 million for both single filers and married couples filing jointly.  The surtax is effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012.
• Protects Social Security. The legislation would not affect the Social Security Trust Fund by one penny, because it requires that the Social Security Trust Fund be made whole through transfers from the General Fund.

Supported By Economists From Across The Political Spectrum:

• Zandi: “We’ll Likely Go Into Recession” If the Payroll Tax Cut Expires. In October, Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics said of the 2010 payroll tax cut that is set to expire in December, “We`d be in recession right now without it. So I think if they don`t do that, at the very minimum, we`ll likely go into recession.” Zandi wrote, “It is critical (and assumed in our baseline outlook) that lawmakers agree at least to extend and increase the payroll tax holiday for workers through 2012 as proposed by President Obama. This would reduce next year’s fiscal drag to less than 1 percentage point—still a heavy lift for the economy, but doable.” [MSNBC, 10/7/11; AP, 9/9/11; Moody’s Analytics, 10/10/11]
• Zandi: Payroll Tax Cut Would Create 750,000 Jobs. [McClatchy, 10/4/11]

Payroll Tax Cuts Could Create More Than 50,000 Jobs A Month. “Preliminary analyses of the White House plan estimate that the tax cuts could create more than 50,000 jobs a month, a significant boost considering that employment climbed by 35,000 jobs, on average, in each of the last three months… Joel Prakken, senior managing director at Macroeconomic Advisers, a forecasting firm, said that the benefits of creating more than half a million jobs next year should not be minimized. ‘It’s going to make the unemployment rate lower than it otherwise would be,’ he said.” [New York Times, 9/9/11]

• Macroeconomic Advisers: “Meaningful Drag” on the Economy if Payroll Tax Cut Expires. Discussing the possibility that congress would allow the payroll tax cut to expire, Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers in St. Louis, said, “And it occurs quite quickly at the beginning of the year… It’s a meaningful drag.” Macroeconomic Advisers estimates that it would reduce GDP growth by 0.5 percent and cost the economy 400,000 jobs by the fourth quarter.  Joel Prakken at Macroeconomic Advisers said the benefits of the payroll tax were somewhat muted earlier this year because of a spike in gas prices. He added that an extension next year could produce greater benefits. [USA Today, 11/15/11; Washington Post, 11/22/11]

Ameriprise Financial Economist: Payroll Tax Cut Could Add More Than 1 Million Jobs. “This additional spending capacity in the hands of consumers should continue to foster improvements in aggregate domestic demand. And ultimately, it is demand and demand alone that will lead to more business hiring,” said Russell Price, senior economist for Ameriprise Financial Services. “Price estimates the increased payroll tax holiday for workers by itself is likely to add between 750,000 to 1 million jobs, and that the new break on payroll taxes for employers could add an additional 100,000 to 200,000 jobs. He added that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation’s economic activity, could get a 1.5 percentage point boost as well.” [CNNMoney, 9/9/11]

JPMorgan: Allowing Unemployment Benefits and Payroll Tax Cut to Expire Could Slow Growth By Up to 2%.  “What’s more important for the economy in 2012 though is the fate of a number of stimulus measures, including a 2 percent cut in employee payroll taxes and extended unemployment benefits, that are due to expire at the end of the year, JPMorgan economist Feroli said. If Congress doesn’t continue them, ‘the drag from tightening fiscal policy could subtract 1.5 to 2 percentage points from GDP growth next year,’ the former Fed economist added in a Nov. 10 note to clients.” [Bloomberg News, 11/19/11]

•  JPMorgan: Current Payroll Tax Cut Boosted Consumer Spending. Discussing the payroll tax cut in a September note, JPMorgan wrote, “Although real consumer spending was subdued in the first quarter, when the tax cut kicked in, nominal consumer spending grew at a 6.1% annual rate, the fastest pace so far in the current expansion.” [JPMorgan, Economic Research Note, 9/9/11]

Barclays Capital: Allowing Unemployment Benefits And Payroll Tax Cut To Expire “Would Shave About 1.5pp Off Of Consumption Growth.” Barclays Capital wrote, “Given the political climate, finding $160bn of deficit savings needed to extend the payroll tax cut and the extended unemployment benefits at their current levels could be a high bar. The end of these stimulus measures would pose a noticeable headwind to disposable personal income growth early next year. We estimate if both stimulus measures expire, then the drag would shave about 1.5pp off of consumption growth (1pp off headline) on a q/q (saar) basis in Q1 of 2012.” [Barclays Capital, 11/22/11]

Goldman Sachs: Allowing Payroll Tax Cut to Expire Could Cut Growth By Two Thirds of a Percent in Early 2012. “Goldman Sachs economic forecaster Alec Phillips estimated that allowing the payroll tax cut to expire would reduce growth by as much as two-thirds of a percentage point in early 2012.” [Washington Post, 11/22/11]

RBC Capital Markets: Failure to Extend Payroll Tax Cut Would Cut GDP By 1% in 2012. “RBC Capital Markets estimated that allowing the payroll tax cut to expire at year-end would reduce U.S. gross domestic product growth by 1 percentage point in 2012.” [Christian Science Monitor, 11/21/11]

University of Chicago Economist: “Employment Could Be Roughly Three Million Greater During The Period Of The Tax Cut Than It Would Otherwise.”  Casey B. Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, wrote, “the 3.1-percentage-point part of the president’s proposal could raise employment by at least a million, albeit the duration of job creation is related to how long the tax cut lasts. I expect that every percentage-point reduction in employers’ costs raises employment by about a percentage point and real gross domestic product by about 0.7 percentage point. That means employment could be roughly three million greater during the period of the tax cut than it would otherwise… The tax cut is proposed to last a year, and some of the estimated three million incremental job-years — a job that lasts a year, or 12 jobs that last a month — could be spread over time. So we might see only two million in the first year of the cut, with another one million after the cut expires. But still that’s a lot of jobs.” [New York Times, 9/14/11]

CBO: Every Dollar of Employer-Side Payroll Tax Cuts Could Generate Up to $1.20 in Economic Activity. The CBO reported that every dollar in reduced taxes on employers would generate up to $1.20 in economic activity, while every dollar in reduced taxes on workers would generate up to 90 cents because workers tend to save a portion of their additional income. Moody’s Analytics estimates that every $1 reduction in federal tax revenue resulting from an employee-side payroll tax cut expands the economy by $1.27. [New York Times, 9/9/11; CBO, 2/23/10; CBPP, 9/7/11; Moody’s Analytics, 8/26/11]

EPI: Failure to Extend Payroll Tax Cut Would Cost Nearly 1 Million Jobs. According to the Economic Policy Institute, failure to extend the payroll tax holiday would cost 972,000 American jobs in 2012. [EPI, 8/4/11]

Moody’s: Letting Payroll Tax Cut Expire Would Shave .5% from GDP. Letting the payroll tax cut for employees expire would shave a half-percentage point from economic growth in 2012, Moody’s Analytics has reported. [New York Times, 9/7/11; Moody’s Analytics, 8/26/11]

Nomura: Extending Payroll Tax Cut Alone Would Raise 2012 GDP By .5%.Nomura wrote, “The passage of measures within The American Jobs Act has the potential to alter our baseline forecast for US economic growth. For example, extending the 2% social security tax cut for employees would raise growth in Q1 2012 real GDP by as much as 1.0 percentage point, and by 0.5 percentage points in 2012 overall.” [Business Insider, 9/9/11]

Payroll Tax Cut Will Benefit 160 Million American Workers. The Democratic plan would provide a tax cut for 160 million workers by expanding the payroll tax cut from 2 percent this year to 3.1 percent in 2012. For a typical family earning $50,000 a year, this cut would translate to an extra $1500 a year in their pockets. That’s more than $125 a month for households to pay for gas, food, and other expenses. On the other hand, if Republicans block passage of the President’s payroll tax cut, the typical family making $50,000 a year would see their taxes rise by $1,000 next year. [White House, 11/22/11]

While American families are living paycheck to paycheck, Republicans are toying with defaulting on our nation’s debt by opposing every deficit reduction compromise that is offered to them. Should the nation default on its debt, or even come close to default, the consequences would be catastrophic for American families. The cost of owning a home, buying food, filling a gas tank, sending children to college and buying a car will become even more expensive, squeezing already tight family budgets. And the impact will be felt not just immediately, but for generations to come.

Default Would Permanently Raise Interest Rates, Driving Up Costs for American Families

Analysts recently estimated that even a technical default - a brief delay in the payment of interest on Treasury debt - could have significant and long-lasting effects. Based on an analysis of the debt ceiling and government shutdown debate in 1995 and financial crisis in 2008, J.P. Morgan estimated that interest rates on Treasury bonds could rise 75 or even 100 basis points. Between mortgages and credit cards alone, a 75 basis point increase translates into an additional $10 billion in consumer borrowing costs every year.

• Mortgage Payments Will Increase By Over $1,000 for the Average Family. The average monthly mortgage payment in the United States is approximately $1,022. A 75 basis point increase in rates would raise this by roughly $85, or $1,020 per year. There are approximately 5 million new mortgage originations each year. These borrowers would be paying a total of $5 billion per year of additional interest. In addition, one study found that an interest rate hike caused by default would immediately add more than $19,000 to the lifetime cost of a 30-year fixed rate mortgage on a median home loan of $172,000 for an existing home. [Based on Analysis by J.P. Morgan; Third Way, May 2011 ]

• Credit Card Interest Would Increase By $250 For the Average Family. Credit card interest payments in the U.S. total approximately $94 billion per year. A 75 basis point increase in rates would increase this by $5 billion to $99 billion. In 2009, nearly half of Americans had credit card debt, with a median balance of $3,300. That means the average family with credit card debt will pay nearly $250 more in interest. [Based on Analysis by J.P. Morgan; Federal Reserve Board]

Default Would Weaken the Dollar, Driving Up Price Families Pay for Utilities, Food and Gas Analysts estimate that a technical default could cause investors to lose faith in the dollar, causing the dollar to fall between 5 and 10 percent against competing currencies. This could have a direct impact on household expenses such as gas, food and utilities.

• Families Could Pay An Additional $182 Per Year on Utilities. According to a 2009 Labor Department survey, American families spend on average $3,645 a year on utilities ($304 a month). A 5 percent decline in the dollar could cost Americans an extra $182 per year on average. [ Bureau of Labor Statistics ; Based on Analysis by J.P. Morgan]

• Families Could Pay An Additional $318 Per Year on Food. According to the same Labor Department survey, Americans spend on average $6,372 a year on food. A 5 percent decline in the dollar could force families to pay an additional $318 a year. [ Bureau of Labor Statistics ; Based on Analysis by J.P. Morgan]

• Families Could Pay Roughly $100 More Per Year More on Gas. According to a recent Labor Department survey, Americans spend on average $1,986 a year on gasoline and motor oil. A 5 percent decline in the dollar could force families to pay an additional $99 a year. [ Bureau of Labor Statistics ; Based on Analysis by J.P. Morgan]

Default Would Roil the Financial Markets, Causing Huge Losses in Retirement Accounts Economists agree a technical default would have disastrous consequences for families and their retirement accounts. Gains in 401(k) accounts achieved during 2010 and 2009 could be wiped out.

• Families Could Lose Thousands of Dollars In Their Retirement Savings. “The financial services firm Janney Montgomery Scott estimates that default would cause the S&P 500 index to lose 6.3% in value in three months.10 J.P. Morgan estimates the loss to be closer to 9%.” “According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the typical 401K of an investor in their 50s at the end of 2009 had $139,932 in their portfolio. A 6.3% loss in the S&P 500 would cost this portfolio $8,816.” [Third Way Report, May 2001 ]

• Families with 401 (k)s Could Lose All Gains Made in 2010 and Most Gains from 2009. “Reaching the debt ceiling will, in all likelihood, trigger a sharp fall in the stock market, which also will likely reduce employment. The drop in stock prices will have an immediate effect on the economy, but also on families. Families with 401(k)s would likely lose all the gains they have made in 2010 and much of their gains in 2009, moving them further below where they were at the end of 2007 after the stock market fell sharply.6 This is magnified by the fact that the very first of the baby boom generation-the largest generation thus far in U.S. history, and the first generation where a majority (near 60 percent) will retire with 401(k)s rather than pensions-is now retiring.” [Testimony by Heather Boushey before Democratic Policy and Steering Committee, 7/7/11 ]