Schakowsky Supports President on Fair Taxes and Protecting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Adjoa Adofo; 202.225.2111
WASHINGTON, DC (Sept 19, 2011) -- Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued the following statement in response to President Obama's deficit reduction proposal released today.
"I applaud the President's call for immediate job creation and his demand that millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share. The battle lines are drawn in this crisis and President Obama is taking a clear stand behind our nation's seniors and middle class Americans.
It is unfair to ask low-income and middle-class families, children, seniors and people with disabilities — those hit the hardest — to bear 100% of the cost of fixing our economic problems. We have experienced thirty years of reverse Robin Hood policies — where we have taken from the middle-class to make the rich even richer, destroying the American dream and our economy at the same time. We must take action to create jobs, restore prosperity and get our fiscal house in order, but we cannot ask 90% of all Americans to continue to sacrifice while the top 10% are not asked to contribute.
To date, Republicans have pushed for dramatic cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and federal programs vital to the middle class and those who aspire to it. Though unwilling to touch a hair on the heads of the most fortunate among us, Republicans have egregiously called for cuts to food safety inspections, medical research funding, and unemployment insurance while at the same time calling for passage of policies that favor wealthy individuals and corporations and turn a blind eye to Wall Street greed. The only class warfare being waged is an assault on the middle class and the American dream.
Earlier this year I introduced legislation, the Fairness in Taxation Act, that would implement higher tax rates on millionaires and billionaires. Hundreds of millionaires have signed on in support of this bill. I also led a letter to Speaker Boehner with 108 of my colleagues signed demanding that this type of proposal be included in any conversation about reducing the deficit. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 80 percent of Americans believe the best way to reduce the deficit is by raising taxes on those who make more than a million dollars. Once again, Republicans in opposition to the President's proposal show that they are out of touch with the majority of Americans and are only interested in protecting the top 1% of our population at the expense of the rest of the country.
From wealthy business magnates like Warren Buffett to Americans from every corner of the nation, there is widespread support for higher taxes on millionaires and billionaires. Congress must get behind the President's proposal and make sure we do not attempt to reduce the nation's deficit on the backs of the middle class and seniors....
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