Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid slammed congressional Republicans Tuesday, alleging the party is working to protect individual taxpayers making more than $1 million.
The Nevada Democrat railed against Republican opposition to a proposed $60 billion measure intended to increase spending on infrastructure and transportation projects, part of Democrat’s hope that additional federal spending will boost the U.S. economy.
“They’re the same millionaires and billionaires whose annual income has increased by more than 275 percent,” Mr. Reid said in a floor speech. “Their share of the nation’s income is higher than at any time since 1928 … since just before the stock market crashed, plunging this country into a Great Depression,” he said.
“Now they take home more than half of all the money earned each year in this great country, even after taxes,” Mr. Reid added. “That means this 1 percent now makes more than the other 99 percent combined.”
Mr. Reid’s statement comes as Congress has spent much of the month debating a proposed jobs bill put forth by the Obama administration. The Senate, which rejected Mr. Obama’s jobs proposal, has sought to pass components of the measure, breaking it into smaller packages — some of which seem to have bipartisan support.
Republicans, for their part, remain steadfastly opposed to increasing revenue. Speaking Tuesday, Mr. Reid lambasted his Republican counterparts, alleging that opposition to the measure would prevent lawmakers from creating thousands of jobs throughout the country.
“And they’re not going to allow us to proceed to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, for a tax increase of seven-tenths of 1 percent of the richest of the rich?” said Mr. Reid.
