Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I have heard in the last few moments about trickle-down economics--you know, here we go again--and I heard the quote of what works and what doesn't work.

Let me tell you what doesn't work. If you look back just a few years ago, in 2000, we had a 4.2 percent unemployment rate. By the end of 2008, we had doubled it. Not one word about that. Those 8 years have disappeared from your memory. By the beginning of 2009, the concentration of wealth amongst the top 1 percent was only matched by the period immediately before the Great Depression. So let's get it straight.

In this piece of legislation, everyone gets a tax cut, even Sammy Sosa--I don't know if he's playing anymore--and even Derrick Jeter. They all get a tax cut up to $200,000. Of course, if they're couples, it's $250,000. Even billionaires will get a tax cut up to $250,000. You have never communicated it because you have never told the total truth.

This legislation is very specific about how we are going to help the middle class. I believe a 5-year extension would be better. I don't believe we should extend any tax cut indefinitely, but I am going to vote for this bill because I refuse to allow the middle class to be the victims of partisan gridlock.

America's middle class is the one for which I have come to the floor multiple times over the last 6 months to declare the necessity of taking a vote on these taxes. I went to my own district. There are 334,000 households in the district, and less than 1 percent--1,092--are making $1 million or more.

Their argument is dead in the water with heavy sand that buries it deeper and deeper because they don't want to talk about the middle class.

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