Senate Proceeding on Dec 3rd, 2010 :: 2:30:05 to 2:46:45
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2:29:58 to 2:30:06( Edit History Discussion )

Al Franken: so i ask my colleagues, what are we doing here?

2:30:05 to 2:46:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Charles Schumer

2:30:07 to 2:30:28( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i consent that immediately after i finish, the senator from utah be recognized. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: well, thank you, mr. president. i rise as well to speak about the most single important issue

2:30:29 to 2:30:50( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: facing the american people today. the single most important issue facing the american people today, and that is the state of the economy. now, let's consider three facts and lay them side by side. first, over the last decade, even though the economy was

2:30:51 to 2:31:12( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: growing modestly, middle-class incomes declined for the first time since world war ii. your average middle-class family, which had always seen things get better and better and better and better, did not from 2001-2010. and by the way, just occur during the recession

2:31:13 to 2:31:33( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: which began in 2008. it was constant throughout this decade. the great american dream, what is it? very simple. everyone wants to try to become rich, but everyone knows they are not going to become rich, but they know one thing. in america, the odds are very high.

2:31:34 to 2:31:54( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: you will be doing better ten years from today than you're doing today, and the odds are even higher that your kids will do better than you. when incomes decline over a decade, mr. president, that american dream burns a little less brightly for people, and the whole tenor of america

2:31:55 to 2:32:16( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: changes, and the kind of anger that we have seen -- and it's really not typical of this great land of ours with its amazing people -- is unusual. second, -- so first, middle-class incomes have gone down.

2:32:17 to 2:32:38( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: second, in the last decade, one group did very, very, very well. the highest income among us. the millionaires and billionaires. god bless them. their taxes went down, down, down over the last decade because of the bush-era tax cuts, but their incomes went up,

2:32:39 to 2:33:01( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: up, up, up. they did great. number three, over the last decade while all of this was happening, our deficit got out of control. when we began this decade in

2:33:02 to 2:33:23( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: 2001, there was a $250 billion surplus. we hadn't had that in decades. it was wonderful, and it helped fuel the economy because small business people and large business people would borrow, knowing that interest rates would stay low, and interest rates are often a greater cost to them than taxes. but when president bush departed

2:33:24 to 2:33:45( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: 1600 pennsylvania avenue, at the end of 2008, he left behind a deficit of $1 trillion. now, some of that was due to the war in iraq where our brave soldiers defended us, and afghanistan as well, and a little more of it was due to new programs that the president authored, including prescription

2:33:46 to 2:34:06( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: drug benefit to senior citizens, but most of it was due to the fact that he cut taxes on the wealthy. now, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle say you have got to keep the bush tax cuts, particularly those for the wealthy. well, was the last decade a great success?

2:34:07 to 2:34:27( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: not for the middle class, no. their incomes went down. not for job growth. it was smaller than before. so when we have the clinton era level of taxes in the 1990's, all of america and job creation and the middle-class in terms of

2:34:28 to 2:34:49( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: income did better than with these tax cuts which began in 2001. so this cry that we need these tax cuts for prosperity doesn't fit with history. it may fit with a particular ideology. it doesn't fit with history.

2:34:50 to 2:35:12( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: who on earth would want to extend a failed economic program that didn't help the middle class, the backbone of america, the place i come from and always fight for? well, who with a want to extend this failed economic program? i'll tell you who: every single one of my 42 colleagues on the other side of the aisle are

2:35:13 to 2:35:34( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: marching in lockstep, saying please extend this failed economic program. why? it seems to me the thing they hold out for is tax cuts for the millionaires. in fact, they are so committed to extending the failed economic program of the bush years, they're willing to hold middle-class tax cuts which we all agree we should have hostage

2:35:35 to 2:35:57( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: until they can give a giant tax break to millionaires and billionaires. it defies economic logic. the welloff, people who my colleagues in the minority are fighting for, they aren't going to spend their tax break and get the economy moving. they're not going to rush to jc

2:35:58 to 2:36:19( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: penney's and buy that warm winter coat they have been wait to go buy. they're not going to go out to the barncider and buy a nice prime rib dinner. they can afford all that already. they can afford it seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. and i want to say something about these millionaires and billionaires.

2:36:20 to 2:36:41( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: god bless em. we're not mad at them for having done well, we admire them. we all wish we were like them, as successful as they were. god bless them. all we're saying is they don't need another $400,000 or or $4 million at this time when

2:36:42 to 2:37:02( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: there are so many other more important needs. and i want to reiterate that. i have nothing against the wealthy. i don't like when we knock them. i think they're great. i respect them, i admire their achievements. there are lots of them in new york who started with nothing and worked their way up.

2:37:03 to 2:37:23( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: i think it's great. some of them inherited their wealth, that's true, and they seem to have even more of a sense of entitlement than the ones who made it themselves oftentimes, but many more live the american dream, with grit and ingenuity, they pulled themselves up the economic

2:37:24 to 2:37:45( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: ladder by the bootstraps. but i've got to tell you something, mr. president. when i talk to them, at least in my home state of new york, even many republicans who are wealthy, they say you know what? for the good of the country, i don't really need this kind of tax break. if you put it to deficit reduction, most of them say, i would be for it.

2:37:46 to 2:38:07( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: not all of them. certainly not the hard right people who seem to have the party on the other side in their -- the palm of their hand who just say i made my $10 million, and don't you dare touch a nickel of it. but most, most.

2:38:08 to 2:38:28( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: they say chuck, i can afford to pay a bit more. i have nothing against returning to the clinton rates. as long as, they say -- and this is a reasonable caveat -- the money goes to a good purpose, making our schools better, improving our infrastructure. above all, they say decrease the

2:38:29 to 2:38:49( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: deficit, which is what the amendment i will offer tomorrow would do. mr. president, the other side of the aisle also wants you believe that the average american overwhelmingly supports tax breaks for millionaires. i've heard it. they say the election -- can't you democrats hear about the

2:38:50 to 2:39:12( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: election? well, i was running this year. i happened to get 65%, 66% of the vote. i got a lot of votes from republicans, a lot of votes from independents. and i talked to a lot of angry people. i saw a lot of tea none of them said to me make sure you keep tax breaks on the millionaires. they may have said shrink the government, they may have said

2:39:13 to 2:39:36( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: repeal health care, that's true, but none, none, none said keep the tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. and here's a poll that shows it, not by some democratic party organization or some republican

2:39:37 to 2:39:58( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: party organization, but by cbs. it's a nonpartisan poll. the poll yesterday says only 26 of americans support millionaire tax breaks, 26%. you say well, that's just the democrats. oh, no. only 25% of independents say

2:39:59 to 2:40:19( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: keep the tax breaks for millionaires. those swing voters were the ones who created a lot of new republican seats and caused us to lose a lot of democratic seats. and even on the republican side, 46%, only 46% supported

2:40:20 to 2:40:40( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: millionaire tax breaks. so this idea that the election was a mandate to cut taxes on millionaires and billionaires, you know, i didn't only run in new york, but i worked closely with many of my colleagues from every part of the country, northeast, midwest, southwest. none of them reported any hugh

2:40:41 to 2:41:01( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: hugh -- hue and cry to keep tax breaks for millionaires, none. that's not what the election said. now, maybe the money of some of those millionaires helped create ads on other issues that helped win the election for these folks, but not the issue itself. so we need to get our economy

2:41:02 to 2:41:26( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: humming on all cylinders again, and it is true we need to stimulate demand. mark zandi, an economist who is as well respected on the right as on the left -- i believe he was senator mccain's chief economic advisor when he ran his campaign -- said that every dollar spent on tax breaks for the millionaires generates 32 cents of economic activity.

2:41:27 to 2:41:47( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: those of us who believe in economic efficiency, which i do, that doesn't work. let me give you a contrast. every dollar spent on unemployment in benefits -- excuse me -- generates $1.61 in economic activity. so if you care about getting the

2:41:48 to 2:42:08( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: economy going, you're going to be for unemployment -- increasing unemployment benefits quicker than tax breaks for millionaires, according to mark zandi and most every economist, even those on the believe that that's false. u.i. benefits are 400% more

2:42:09 to 2:42:30( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: stimulative than tax breaks for the wealthy, according to mr. zandi. but on wednesday when my esteemed and effective colleague from ohio, senator sherrod brown came to the floor and asked unanimous consent for just a one-year re-authorization of unemployment benefits, the other side objected. and as you said, mr. president,

2:42:31 to 2:42:52( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: when you were speaking as a senator from minnesota on the floor a few minutes ago, the anomaly, the republican party is saying we don't have to pay for tax breaks for the millionaires, but we have to pay for an increase in unemployment benefits. what kind of logic is that? the middle class, mr. president, is worried. they're worried about how they

2:42:53 to 2:43:13( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: are going to stretch that paycheck. they're worried about how they are going to make that mortgage payment. they're worried about how they are going to keep that job. and this, this recession, middle-class people are more unemployed than ever before. most recessions in the past had two differences. one, they mainly affected the poorest people and the working

2:43:14 to 2:43:39( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: class people who made below a salary. this one has gone way up into the middle class and the upper middle class. i have met hundreds of people like that as i have traveled my state. and second, they are out of work for a lot longer. it's no longer three weeks or even three months, but six months, nine months, a year. and we just heard the unemployment rate went up under

2:43:40 to 2:44:00( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: these bush tax cuts to 9.8%. we're trying to offer solutions that bring the unemployment rate down. we're trying to offer solutions that focus on the middle class and they are busy defending wonderful people who made a lot of money but don't need the help. after senator brown offered his bill to re-authorize unemployment insurance, senator udall of new mexico asked for

2:44:01 to 2:44:21( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: consent to take up and pass a bill to extend the highly successful building start program. that gave tax incentives so construction workers could build buildings that were energy efficient. 150,000 jobs, good-paying jobs. they objected. next came senator stabenow from michigan, a real leader in the

2:44:22 to 2:44:43( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: fight for job creation. she came to the floor with a bill to give tax breaks to manufacturers. we need manufacturing, not only in her state of michigan but in my state of new york. particularly upstate. conservative estimates said the bill would create 40,000 private sector jobs.

2:44:44 to 2:45:08( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: again, the republicans objected. then i offered a bill myself, i'm glad my colleague from utah is here. this was a bipartisan bill. it was a tax cut for business called the hire act. it said if you hire somebody who is unemployed 60 days, you don't have to pay the payroll tax. for this year. it's expiring.

2:45:09 to 2:45:29( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: i wanted to extend it. objection. the bill had passed with bipartisan support, but the point is here, to get tax breaks for the millionaires, they would even object to a bipartisan bill that gave a tax break to businesses that would employ people.

2:45:30 to 2:45:50( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: what kind of logic is that? and one final point now, as i conclude, and that is the deficit. the deficit, as i mentioned, is huge. but let me just say that the

2:45:51 to 2:46:13( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: bush tax cuts -- and particularly those for the millionaires and billionaires -- add a huge amount to the deficit and we don't hear a peep about it from the other side. they say they care about the deficit, but $300 billion that it would cost to give these tax breaks to millionaires and

2:46:14 to 2:46:34( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: billionaires, that's okay. please, over the next year i'm going to be up here reminding my colleagues when they say we can't pay for help to our schools so that they can hire a science teacher who might create the genius that would create a new industry that would create new jobs, when they say we can't have money to repair a road or a

2:46:35 to 2:46:47( Edit History Discussion )

Charles Schumer: sewer project that would create good-paying jobs because it would increase the deficit, i am going to remind each and every one ever you that you said when you gave tax breaks to millionaires, the deficit didn't count.