mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
i would remind the gentleman that amt relief is not in our package because it passed yesterday in the house by a vote of 414-4 . 
that is why it is not in this package , because it passed yesterday . 
we all talk about what we do here in washington as it relates to the economy . 
the bottom line is that the economy is doing quite well because americans are out there working hard every day . 
a lot of them are getting up before the sun comes up and not getting home until the sun goes down , bringing in food and fiber from our fields , manufacturing the devices that we take for granted each and every day in our manufacturing facilities , and working hard in an expanding and robust services economy , going into classrooms , going into hospitals , building houses that are part of the american dream for more and more americans . 
in fact , a record number of americans now have achieved that piece of the american dream through homeownership . 
so it is ordinary americans doing every day what they do best that is allowing this economy to move forward , and our role in that is to create the climate that allows them to maximize that opportunity , to put in place policies that keep inflation in check , keep interest rates low , and reduce the tax burden in their lives . 
today , more corporations pay dividends than at any other time . 
in fact , there has been a 69 percent increase in s & amp ; p 500 companies that pay dividends . 
it is not only wealthy people that are benefiting from dividend taxes being cut and the corresponding increase in companies paying dividends . 
in fact , it typically is your retirees who are owning those stocks that they have invested in their whole lives that are paying the dividends to supplement their retirement income . 
prior to us changing that policy , the number of companies paying dividends over the last several years had actually gone down by 45 percent ; and since the change in the tax that lowered the dividend tax , it went up almost 70 percent . 
that is a clear indication that what we did here in that small policy changed behavior in the business world to the benefit of all americans : poor americans , seniors , middle class , professionals , people who make six figures , people who make five figures . 
everybody benefited from that . 
in fact , disproportionately , seniors benefited from that . 
everybody benefits from the fact that unemployment is now at 5 percent . 
that is indisputable . 
would we like to see it go lower ? 
of course . 
would we like to put policies in place that do that ? 
of course . 
does raising taxes on the american people help lower the unemployment rate ? 
i do not think so . 
perhaps some on the other side of the aisle would disagree . 
more americans own stock today than ever before . 
this is not a class-warfare argument : 91 million individuals own stock in america . 
this bill puts in place a policy that encourages more americans to invest in america . 
that , i believe , is sound economic policy . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
