A BILL
To express the sense of the Senate on shared sacrifice in resolving the budget deficit.
- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1: SENSE OF THE SENATE ON SHARED SACRIFICE.
- (a) Findings- Congress makes the following findings:
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- (1) The Wall Street Journal reports that median pay for chief financial officers of S&P 500 companies increased 19 percent to $2,900,000 last year.
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- (2) Over the past 10 years, the median family income has declined by more than $2,500.
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- (3) Twenty percent of all income earned in the United States is earned by the top 1 percent of individuals.
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- (4) Over the past quarter century, four-fifths of the income gains accrued to the top 1 percent of individuals.
- (b) Sense of the Senate- It is the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning $1,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.
Yea 51 Nay 49
Harry Reid needed 60 votes to pass this resolution. He didn’t have it. What he did get was 49 Republicans saying no to millionaires having any sense of responsibility towards making a more meaningful contribution to help reduce the budget deficit. Who is to say what ‘meaningful contribution’ means. It could mean each of them paying $100 more a year towards budget reduction. The wording was vague. Yet all 49 of the Republican Senators voted NO.
The vote speaks volumes and will continue to speak volumes for many years. Republicans need to rethink their protection of the very rich.
