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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Georgia for his very thoughtful comments.
Senator Isakson has been working on a biennial budget for a very long time. I was pleased to join him in this session of Congress. And I agree with him. I believe this is one of the ways we can encourage more oversight of our spending and hopefully address some of the budget issues we face. So I appreciate and share his beliefs that this is an important change we should make.
I am actually on the floor not to speak on the balanced budget amendment, however, but to talk about what I believe is very important for us to do before the end of this year; that is, address the extension of the payroll tax cut.
In November, the private sector added 140,000 new jobs to our workforce. In fact, businesses have now created 100,000 jobs in each of the last 5 months. This is a positive trend we haven't seen in the past 5 years. While this is encouraging, we still have a long way to go because more than 13 million Americans remain unemployed and millions more are underemployed. These individuals and their families are struggling to make ends meet during this holiday season.
At this time last year, Congress passed bipartisan legislation to put more money into the pockets of working Americans. We cut payroll taxes for workers--an effort that increased take-home pay for the average household by almost $1,000 in 2011. This tax cut isn't just good for families on a tight budget, it is good for our fragile economy. In New Hampshire, the payroll tax cut has meant an extra $600 million in our communities.
There are some who want to allow this tax cut to expire
at the end of the year. But let's be clear. If the tax cut expires, this would mean the average family would see their taxes increase by $1,000 next year. This would mean taking $120 billion out of our Nation's economy, money that would no longer be spent at our supermarkets, at our retailers, and at our gas stations. That doesn't make sense.
Independent economists have predicted that allowing this tax cut to expire could cost our economy 400,000 jobs next year. Some have even predicted that the United States could face another recession if we don't take action.
Members of this body have also suggested that this tax cut would starve Social Security of needed revenue and endanger this bedrock program's solvency. With Americans relying so heavily on Social Security to meet basic needs, this is a serious charge and one we should take seriously. However, the program's Chief Actuary has written that this tax cut does not hurt Social Security's finances. Instead, this proposal contains provisions to require that the Social Security trust fund be made whole.
I recently supported Senator Casey's proposal to not only extend payroll tax cuts for employees but also to expand them to increase the average family's take-home pay by an additional $500 next year. This proposal would have cut employer payroll taxes, making it easier for small businesses to keep current workers and hire new ones. That proposal was fully paid for with a 3-percent tax on people earning more than $1 million in a year. Because of the way it was paid for, the legislation was blocked. My friend from Pennsylvania, Senator Casey, also introduced a compromise plan that I supported. But again, unfortunately, it did not pass.
I think that particularly now, at this time of the year, at this critical stage for our economy, everyone should agree on preventing tax increases for working families. There are some competing ideas about the best way to accomplish this, and I welcome that debate, but Congress simply cannot afford to saddle middle-class families with a $1,000 tax increase in the midst of an uneven recovery. It isn't right for our small businesses, it isn't right for our communities, and it isn't right for the economy.
Time is running out to extend the payroll tax cut. I urge my colleagues to support this effort.
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