Contact: Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after the Senate passed short-term extensions of the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits:
“President Obama and Democrats in Congress insisted we would not go home for the holidays unless we passed a payroll tax cut for 160 million American workers and extended unemployment insurance benefits for those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Republicans opposed a payroll tax cut for the middle class until Democrats made the issue too hot to handle.
“Republicans also obstructed passage of the omnibus bill, inserting dozens of controversial and extraneous amendments that risked yet another government shutdown. Democrats and the President succeeding in eliminating nearly all these irresponsible riders, dramatically improving the legislation. The final legislation that we will pass, however, is not the bill for which House Democrats had hoped. The bill makes it clear that Republicans would do anything to protect 300,000 Americans making more than $1 million a year from paying one red cent.
“Republicans have made-up crises that have caused unnecessary uncertainty for the American economy and the middle-class. Their only goal remains permanent tax cuts for the richest one percent. House Democrats will return to Washington to take up this legislation without delay, and we will keep up the fight to extend these provisions for a full year.”
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