Hoyer: Reject Republican Tax Bill, Adopt the Senate-Passed Middle Class Tax Cut Bill

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today urging Members to reject the Republican tax bill and to adopt the Democratic substitute, which is identical to the Senate-passed bill that extends tax cuts for middle class Americans.  Below are his remarks and a link to the video:  

Click here to watch the video.

“Designed to fail, that's what this bill is – designed to fail. And, very frankly, you made sure that it was going to fail when you passed the amendment that added the reform bill and this bill together. Designed to fail – how sad.

“I don't think you want to raise taxes on anybody. I understand that. I'll accept that premise. But what we ought to do is to make sure that the agreement that we have with the Senate and the House, that at least – at least – the 98% of Americans who make less than $250,000 ought to have no increase in their taxes. At least we ought to do that. America knows we have agreement on that. And they're wondering why, when you have agreement, don't you take that agreement and give the assurance and certainty to 98% of the American working people that they won't have an increase in their taxes, so they'll have the confidence that they'll have money in their pocket to, perhaps, purchase that refrigerator that they need or that oven that they need or perhaps a new car or help their kid go to college. Why don't we give them that confidence, I say to my friends?

“Mr. Speaker, I wish we would do so. Today we could embrace the agreement that the Senate has come to and tell the 98%: ‘you're safe.’ And, in addition to that, by rejecting this bill we will reject taking money out of 25 million people's pockets that they rely on to support themselves and their children. That's what the [Republican] bill does. It protects the wealthiest in America while telling some of the poorest in America, the least well-off in America, you're going to pay more, you're going to get less. How perverse. How undermining of our economy. How undermining of the confidence of our people.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of this House, we're better than this. Newt Gingrich talked some years ago, in 1998, about the 'perfectionist caucus' and, Mr. Speaker, he said: 'embrace agreement.' He was agreeing with President Clinton – and Newt Gingrich at that point in time – on a budget which adopted PAYGO one more time, which is one of the reasons why we balanced the budget four years in a row.

“The bill we're now considering, the House Ways and Means bill, leaves 98% of our people at risk, while our bill gives 100% of the people a tax cut. Let us reject the House bill. Let us adopt the substitute. Let us send it to the Senate and make it law. The President will sign it, and it can become law and give confidence and help to those 98% of Americans.”