'Are We So Focused On The Next Election That We Cant Focus On The Next Generation?': Raphael Warnock

2 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) bemoaned Senate Republicans' opposition to a major new tax package.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. President, I rise today with deep antipathy and disappointment for the

00:09persistent political games being played in this chamber. And as a pastor, I am

00:18particularly bothered when those games are played with children. Today, by all

00:23accounts, the Senate will fail to pass legislation with strong

00:30bipartisan support that will make a serious difference in the lives of

00:35everyday Georgians and their children. We were on track to do the right thing by

00:45our children. But once again, politics, as we enter the silly season of politics, is

00:53getting in the way. Extending the expanded child tax credit is not only

00:59the right thing to do morally, it is the smart thing to do economically. And I

01:08have to say that I find that often that is the case with our public policy. Very

01:12often, the right thing to do is also the smart thing to do. And it's politics and

01:19politics alone that gets in the way. We're not for the cynical politics of

01:25Washington. Passing this bill would be a no-brainer. The moral question that we

01:33have to ask ourselves is, are we so focused on the next election that we

01:37can't focus on the next generation? It's beyond nonsensical that there are some

01:42who have previously preached about the importance of lowering taxes, but they

01:50are getting ready to vote down a tax cut for middle and working-class families. And

01:55I think it's important to underscore that point because I recognize that the

01:59folks who are at home, when they hear words like tax credit, expanded child tax

02:05credit, they're engaged in their work. They may not readily know what we're

02:11talking about. It is a tax cut. That's what it is, a tax cut for middle and

02:17working-class families. And when we passed it back in 2021, it was in fact

02:22the largest tax cut for middle and working-class families in American

02:27history. But now, we've got the same lawmakers who love to talk about the

02:36need to lower taxes on middle and working-class Americans, an argument I

02:42hear often. They're getting ready to vote down this tax cut. And so the next time

02:49that I hear them talking about the need to cut taxes, I'm going to ask my

02:55colleagues, how did you vote today? How did you vote when you had an opportunity

03:02to provide tax relief for ordinary people? Maybe the issue is not so

03:09much tax cuts, it's for whom. Is it for those who need it the least, or those who

03:18could benefit from it the most? The bipartisan tax relief bill negotiated in

03:23good faith by my friend, the senior senator from Oregon, is legislation that

03:29will offer a helping hand to ordinary families, because we know that when

03:33ordinary people thrive, the economy thrives. And the reason the economy

03:38thrives is because when people who do not have a lot of disposable income or

03:44virtually no disposable income, when they get a little bit of relief, you know, they

03:50buy extravagant things, you know, like a coat for their kid for winter, some more

03:59food, an opportunity to get some after-school enrichment. So that's what I

04:09think about. I think about a mom that I met in Columbus, Georgia, named Denise, who

04:17in the weeks after we passed the expanded child tax credit, she said to me,

04:23Senator, I'm so grateful that you all got this done. She said that she used those

04:27extra dollars to help prepare her daughter to go back to school, and to

04:32help take care of her household as she was transitioning between jobs. It was a

04:37win for her, a win for her daughter, a win for the American economy. Let's be

04:42clear, the bill that we're taking up today would help reduce poverty for some

04:48636,000 children in Georgia and their families. And if I'm honest, it's

04:57the kind of work that spurred me, a pastor, to get involved in politics in

05:03the first place. I put up with politics in order to do things like this. We passed

05:09the expanded child tax credit, we literally cut child poverty 40% or more

05:14in America, but because we only did it for six months, we went back and doubled

05:18it. We can do better than that. And so these dollars are going right back into

05:25the economy, helping small businesses and helping local economies to be

05:30stronger. So we're helping families, helping businesses, helping our economy.

05:38Not only that, but we know that the smartest investment we can make is

05:43investing in our children. When we invest in our kids, especially in getting them

05:49out of poverty, we literally save them from the trauma, the actual trauma that

05:59poverty creates. And so I stand advocating, pushing, begging my colleagues

06:11to reconsider. You know, I grew up in public housing and I wouldn't be

06:18standing here today if it were not for good federal public policy. I worked hard.

06:23I put my shoes on every morning. I come from a family that emphasized the strong

06:31work ethic, but I needed all of that and good federal public policy to be

06:35standing on this floor right now. I am the beneficiary of Head Start, which by

06:42the way, Project 2025 wants to go after. Head Start, which gives poor children

06:47access to literacy, sets the foundation for a good life. In high school, another

06:52good federal program called Upward Bound put me on a college campus during the

06:55summer and every Saturday, so I knew that I belonged on the college campus. And

07:00then Pell Grants and low-interest student loans ensured that I could make

07:04my way through college. The expanded child tax credit is a part of that good

07:09public policy, centering ordinary people. We strengthen their families and we

07:16strengthen the American economy. The time to do that is now. The time now is

07:22not to focus on November, but to focus on what we can do right now. Dr. King was

07:26right. The time to do right is always right, and that time is right now. Thank

07:36you so much.

'Are We So Focused On The Next Election That We Cant Focus On The Next Generation?': Raphael Warnock

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