Senate Proceeding 11-01-11 on Nov 1st, 2011 :: 0:17:20 to 0:26:15
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0:17:16 to 0:17:36( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: mr. cardin: mr. president, later this month the an it 'tis pated special joint -- the anticipated special joint committee will be issuing its recommendations. the special joint committee was set up for us to get recommendations on dealing with our economic problems and our budget deficit. i just want to share with my colleagues two points that i think are critically important

0:17:20 to 0:26:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Benjamin L. Cardin

0:17:37 to 0:17:59( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: that i hope will come out of this special joint committee. first, i hope this joint committee will provide the way that we can advance an agenda that will create jobs in our community. and secondly, i hope that this special joint committee will come forward with a comprehensive and balanced

0:18:00 to 0:18:20( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: approach for us to deal with our unsustainable budget deficits that we currently have. let me talk about the first issue, creating jobs. president obama came forward with a job initiative that i really do believe is entitled to debate on the floor of this body and i would hope passage. president obama brought forward

0:18:21 to 0:18:41( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: a bill that deals with rebuilding america so that we can have the types of roads and bridges and water infrastructure and energy infrastructure that allows america to compete, at the same time creating jobs. he's offered proposals that will help small businesses, because we know that the small businesses represent the economic engine of america,

0:18:42 to 0:19:03( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: where more jobs will be created, where more innovation occurs. he understands that and is encouraging us to do more to help small businesses. the president's proposal deal with our men and women in the military service who are coming back from iraq and coming back from afghanistan, to have jobs available. mr. president, yesterday i was

0:19:04 to 0:19:24( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: at b.w.i. airport as our returning soldiers came back from being in iraq and afghanistan. and they want jobs, and the president's initiative says, look, let's make sur jobs for our returning soldiers. all that means that we're going to create more jobs. and the joint committee needs to make sure that in its recommendations that we have the

0:19:25 to 0:19:45( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: wherewithal to move this nation forward by creating jobs. the president's proposal has been evaluated by independent economists. mark zandi, who was senator mccain's economic advisor in his presidential campaign, points out that the president's proposal would increase our gross domestic product by 2% and

0:19:46 to 0:20:07( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: create 1.9 million additional jobs. and the president's proposal is completely paid for, so it adds nothing to the deficit. now, i must tell you, if we're going to be able to balance our budget, if we're tpw-g to be -- going to be able to get our budget into better shape, we have to have more jobs. less people using governmental services, more people paying revenues or taxes into our system. the more people that are

0:20:08 to 0:20:29( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: working, the better our budgets will come into balance. now, i know some here are saying, look, there's a better way of doing it. come forward with a better way of doing it. i would challenge my, particularly my republican colleagues, if you have a better way, come forward with a proposal that creates at least 1.9 million jobs and does it without adding to the budget deficit. that's the proposal that we had

0:20:30 to 0:20:50( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: before us. i'm asking the joint committee to make sure that they provide in their recommendations a way that we can create jobs so that we can deal with our budget deficit. the second point i want to make is that i would hope that joint committee's recommendations would be comprehensive and balanced. some call that the shared

0:20:51 to 0:21:13( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: sacrifice. now, i know these numbers can sort of be used any way you want to, but the groups that have looked at this, the simpson-bowles group and others, say look we need to reduce the deficit over the next ten years by about $4 trillion. i think that's a number that we should meet. i would hope the joint committee

0:21:14 to 0:21:35( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: would come in with a $4 trillion of deficit reduction over the next ten years. we've already done the first trillion. we did that when we raised the debt limit in august. now we need to look at another $3 trillion. i would hope that they would do it. it starts with a realistic baseline. what does that mean? it means what numbers are we using in order to determine we actually get to that $4

0:21:36 to 0:21:56( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: trillion of deficit reduction. what baseline do we use in order to determine the revenue base in which we start these discussions. aeupbld suggest we need -- and i would suggest we need a realistic baseline. i was impressed by the work of the simpson-bowles commission. i was impressed by the work of our colleagues in the senate, the so-called gang of six in

0:21:57 to 0:22:18( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: which i must tell you the overwhelming majority of colleagues in the senate have at least agreed to the basis of what the gang of six are working, what they're trying to do. it uses a realistic baseline, so it assumes that some of the tax provisions will be extended but not all. it also assumes that we have to bring in additional revenues beyond that.

0:22:19 to 0:22:40( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: quite frankly, the number that we've been talking about is that we need about 1.2 trillion out of realistic revenues using a realistic baseline. that can be gotten. that's not so difficult to get. when you realize that all of the tax deductions, exemptions and credits equal as much revenue as

0:22:41 to 0:23:01( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: we bring in in our tax code. another way to say that is if we eliminate all the exemptions and deductions and credits, we could have tax rates one half of what our current tax rates are. what we're suggesting is that there are certain loopholes that are in the tax code that benefit special interest corporations. they need to be eliminated. they need to be eliminated.

0:23:02 to 0:23:23( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: and everyone has to pay their fair share. we can't just attack the middle-class families. there was an article in the baltimore sun this past week that showed that during this recession, the number of people earning more than $1 million has grown dramatically. and which have been economic

0:23:24 to 0:23:44( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: studies that have shown t wealthiest in america during these economic times have done very, very well. their incomes faster rate than other americans. the middle-class families. middle-class families are falling behind. so all we're suggesting is that when we look at how w revenue, let's make sure it's

0:23:45 to 0:24:05( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: fair and we don't again penalize the middle-class families. let's make sure those who earn over $1 million pay their fair share towards this comprehensive and balanced approach. and that's what we're asking the joint committee to come in with. come in with proposals that are fair, are balanced. make sure everybody pays their fair share, including those who

0:24:06 to 0:24:26( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: have done extremely well during this economic recession, those who have made over $1 million of income. i must tell you, everyone needs to be part of the equation. we understand that. we have to have so-called shared sacrifice. i've taken the floor before to talk about our federal employees, and everybody says the federal employees have to

0:24:27 to 0:24:47( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: help contribute to this deficit also. well, our federal employees understand that. they've already contributed. they were the first to do that. two years of pay freezes. i might tell you, asking them to do more with less people; we've cut their budgets and we've given them more work, and we've

0:24:48 to 0:25:09( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: told them two years with a pay freeze. to me, our federal employees have already contributed to this, to the deficit-reduction numbers, and they shouldn't be picked on again. mr. president, i believe we can come together and we need to have a comprehensive and balanced approach that allows america to be able to create more jobs.

0:25:10 to 0:25:31( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: that's what we need to do as a nation. if we come together, i am convinced that it will instill confidence among the american consumers, among american investors, and our economy will take off. and it's going to be good for everyone in this nation. i hope that this month we see the joint committee come in with such recommendations that

0:25:32 to 0:25:51( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: will be balanced, will be fair, and will allow us to create more jobs for americans. with that, would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.