it is extraordinary . 
if you assert something that is not true , it is true on the floor of the house . 
there is no truth test here . 
cut taxes for the rich , it will stimulate the economy . 
put the little people to work who will pay taxes for their job cutting the lawns or washing their yachts . 
that is the argument we are hearing from that side of the aisle . 
trickle down economics works , they tell us . 
unfortunately , that is not what most americans find with their real incomes stalled out over the last 5 years . 
no , trickle down economics does one simple thing : it rewards the benefactors of the republican party . 
let us just look at one of the elements of the `` not raising taxes today. '' it would be let the tax cuts in dividends on stocks . 
now , i go to my town meetings and i say , everybody who has dividend paying stocks , raise your hand . 
and i have a lot of people coming to my town meetings , but usually it is one , maybe two . 
and i think that is pretty much the same across america . 
but the millionaires and , yeah , the billionaires , they have a lot of dividend paying stocks . 
in fact , their tax cuts average now , that is not even talking about the dividend tax . 
let us talk about the dividend tax . 
this bill will extend the cut in dividend taxes . 
now , the american enterprise institute , no liberal bastion there , they just issued a report and it says the dividend tax break has not generated more business investment or jobs or productive economic activity but it has enhanced investor wealth . 
that is what this is about . 
this bill is to enhance investor wealth . 
now , they have a newfound concern about the sea of red ink they have created , the 60 percent increase in our debt in the last 5 years . 
so a couple of weeks ago we jammed through a bill at 2 a.m . 
in the morning that cut things like student financial aid , medicaid , health care to poor people , dumping that burden on the states ; foster care , long-term care , the school lunch program . 
those little kids are just eating too much . 
they are chowing down . 
they are going to help the obesity problem on this side of the aisle by starving kids . 
now , what are we buying with those cuts ? 
well , the student loan cuts , they say , oh , we are not cutting student loans , we are just charging them more for the loans . 
right , you are not cutting student loans , you are just increasing their debt burden . 
you are not cutting the loans , you are just jacking up the interest rate , charging them twice as much to take out a loan , and charging them a special new fee to get a very high fixed interest rate , something they can get now for free at a lower rate . 
but they are not whacking the students too hard , only $ 14 billion . 
and what do we get for that $ 14 billion ? 
an extension of the dividend tax cut . 
that is great . 
so now the wealthy will be able to buy more yachts to float on the sea of red ink that the republicans have created . 
they will be able to hire more help around the mansion . 
that is trickle down economics . 
they talk about how great the economy is doing . 
here is a few facts . 
unemployment rate , yes , it is recently down , but it is up eight-tenths of a percent over when the republican administration took charge . 
there is 1.6 million more unemployed workers than when george bush took office . 
there is the slowest private sector job growth of any administration since herbert hoover . 
he is doing better than herbert hoover . 
that is great . 
the largest projected surpluses turned into the largest projected deficits , with $ 4.2 trillion more debt in 2008 . 
now , that is the grand success of trickle down . 
and they come out here and assert baldly that giving tax cuts to rich people will not only stimulate the economy , put people to work , but that it will reduce the deficit . 
sure . 
you really believe that ? 
i do not think so . 
the american people do not believe it . 
what you are doing here is giving very generous tax cuts to the people who give you very generous campaign contributions . 
