President Barack Obama challenged congressional Republicans on Tuesday to vote in support of a part of his $447 billion jobs bill that would extend the payroll tax cut, telling Republicans not to vote for tax increases during “the holidays.”
He also asked his New Hampshire audience to tell their members of Congress, “don’t be a Grinch.”
“Congress has a very simple choice next week: Do you want to cut taxes for the middle class and those who are trying to get into the middle class? Or do you want to protect massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, many of whom want to actually help?” Obama asked at Manchester Central High School.
“Do you want to help working families get back on solid ground and grow this economy for all of us? Or do you really want to vote to raise taxes on nearly 160 million Americans during the holidays? When push comes to shove, are you willing to fight as hard for working families as you are for the wealthiest Americans?”
Obama said Republicans should follow anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist’s no tax increases pledge which many members of the GOP have signed.
“A lot of them have sworn an oath — we’re never going to raise taxes on anybody for as long as we live –- even though they have already voted against these middle-class tax cuts once,” Obama said.
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“But the question they’ll have to answer when they get back from Thanksgiving is this: Are they really willing to break their oath to never raise taxes, and raise taxes on the middle class just to play politics?”
Obama reminded the audience that last year, “both parties came together to cut payroll taxes for the typical household by $1,000 this year. That’s been showing up in your paychecks each week. You may not know it, but it’s been showing up because of the action that we took.”
Obama continued, “If Congress refuses to act -– then middle-class families are going to get hit with a tax increase at the worst possible time. For the average family, your taxes will go up $1,000 if Congress does not act by the end of the month. Now, we can’t let that happen…It would be bad for the economy. It would be bad for employment.”
The president asked the audience to “send” their member of Congress a message: “Tell them, ‘Don’t be a Grinch,'” he said. “Don’t vote to raise taxes on working Americans during the holidays. Put the country before party. Put money back in the pockets of working families. Do your job. Pass our jobs bill.”