{"id":1304,"date":"2012-02-13T09:51:47","date_gmt":"2012-02-13T14:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/?p=1304"},"modified":"2012-02-13T09:51:47","modified_gmt":"2012-02-13T14:51:47","slug":"presidents-weekly-address-extending-the-payroll-tax-cut-for-the-middle-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/2012\/02\/presidents-weekly-address-extending-the-payroll-tax-cut-for-the-middle-class\/","title":{"rendered":"President’s Weekly Address: Extending the Payroll Tax Cut for the Middle Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEEKLY ADDRESS: Extending the Payroll Tax Cut for the Middle Class<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s address, President Obama urged Congress to quickly pass the payroll tax cut extension to prevent a tax hike on 160 million hardworking Americans who are still recovering from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.\u00a0 This is not the time for a self-inflicted wound on the recovery or placing an added burden on middle class families, so Democrats and Republicans must pass this commonsense tax cut without drama or delay.\u00a0 We overcame the same standoff over the payroll tax cut extension in December with the help of the American people, and President Obama once again calls on all Americans to tell their elected leaders to do their jobs, put aside partisanship, and extend this tax cut for the middle class.<\/p>\n

Remarks of President Barack Obama<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weekly Address<\/strong><\/p>\n

The White House<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday, February 11, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello, everybody.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, we\u2019ve seen signs that our economy is growing stronger and creating jobs at a faster clip.\u00a0 While numbers and figures will go up and down in the coming months, what cannot waver is our resolve to do everything in our power to keep stoking the fires of the recovery.<\/p>\n

And the last thing we should do is let Washington stand in the way.<\/p>\n

You see, at the end of the month, taxes are set to go up on 160 million working Americans. If you\u2019re one of them, then you know better than anyone that the last thing you need right now is a tax hike.\u00a0 But if Congress refuses to act, middle class taxes will go up.\u00a0 It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n

Now, if this sounds familiar, it\u2019s because we\u2019ve been here before.\u00a0 Back in December, Congress faced this exact same predicament.\u00a0 Ultimately, thanks to your voices, they did the right thing \u2013 but only after a great deal of bickering and political posturing that put the strength of our economy and the security of middle class families at risk.\u00a0 We can\u2019t go through that again.<\/p>\n

Congress needs to stop this middle class tax hike from happening.\u00a0 Period.\u00a0 No drama.\u00a0 No delay.\u00a0 And no ideological side issues that have nothing to do with this tax cut.\u00a0 Now is not the time for self-inflicted wounds to our recovery.\u00a0 Now is the time for common-sense action.\u00a0 And this tax cut is common-sense.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a family making about $50,000 a year, this tax cut amounts to about $1,000 a year.\u00a0 That\u2019s about $40 in every paycheck.\u00a0 I know there are some folks in this town who think $40 isn\u2019t a lot of money.\u00a0 But to a student or a senior who\u2019s trying to stretch the budget a little bit further?\u00a0 To a parent who\u2019s filling up the tank and looking at rising gas prices?\u00a0 To them, $40 can make all the difference in the world.<\/p>\n

And so can your voice.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019ll pick up the phone, send a tweet, write an email, and tell your representative that they should get this done before it gets too late.\u00a0 Tell them not to play politics again by linking this debate to unrelated issues. Tell them not to manufacture another needless standoff or crisis.\u00a0 Tell them not to stand in the way of the recovery.\u00a0 Tell them to just do their job.\u00a0 That\u2019s what our middle class needs.\u00a0 That\u2019s what our country needs.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, we\u2019re getting things going again.\u00a0 And we\u2019re going to keep at it until everyone shares in America\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n

Thanks, and have a great weekend.<\/p>\n

via WEEKLY ADDRESS: Extending the Payroll Tax Cut for the Middle Class | The White House<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEEKLY ADDRESS: Extending the Payroll Tax Cut for the Middle Class In this week\u2019s address, President Obama urged Congress to quickly pass the payroll tax cut extension to prevent a tax hike on 160 million hardworking Americans who are still recovering from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.\u00a0 This is not the time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,22,20],"tags":[55,42,141,870],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1305,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304\/revisions\/1305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/therationalprogressive.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}