mr. speaker , today we return for part two of the budget reconciliation bill .  just before thanksgiving , the republican majority cut investments in education , american competitiveness , and programs for the needy .  today , they will give a tax cut to the top 1 % .  it is a reverse-robin hood value system .  apparently , the republican leadership thinks that the middle class is not working hard enough .  they believe that the middle class needs to work harder so that the top 1 % can take home more money .  today , mr. speaker , we have a moral decision to make .  i believe it is immoral to cut $ 50 billion from medicaid , food stamps , student loans , child care payment enforcement , and foster care in order to pay for a $ 56 billion tax cut for capital gains and dividends .  people with income of more then one million dollars -- the top two-tenths of one percent of the population would get $ 32 , 000 dollars .  most tax filers , those with income below $ 40 , 000 , would get $ 7 .  those with income above $ 1 million -- not just those worth more than a million , but those who have income and stock market earnings of more then $ 1 million each year -- would receive about half of this $ 56 billion tax cut .  worse yet , you may have noticed that if we cut taxes by $ 56 billion and cut spending by $ 50 billion , we have increased the debt .  we have gone from a projected 10-year surplus of $ 5.6 trillion to a projected deficit of $ 3.5 trillion .  with the deficit projected to rise to $ 640 billion by 2015 , this is no time to pile on even more .  this bill will force us to borrow more from china .  this is more debt we will force our children and grandchildren to pay interest on .  and for what ?  so the wealthiest 1 % can get an even larger tax break .  mr. speaker , i believe there are problems with our tax system .  i have supported tax cuts in the past and i have worked with members on both sides of the aisle to achieve them .  however , today we are ignoring a tax problem that affects my constituents greatly .  many of my middle class constituents are forced to pay the alternative minimum tax ( amt ) .  this year , 3.5 million taxpayers will owe amt .  yesterday 's amt tax bill was just a sham , and is likely to go nowhere .  with this package , republicans knowingly and deliberately have removed the amt correction and thereby will increase the taxes on more than 17 million middle-class working families next year by failing to extend the higher exemptions for the alternative minimum tax ( amt ) that expire in several weeks .  we could solve this problem today by slightly reducing the recent tax cut for those making more then $ 1 million a year .  republicans are so determined to extend tax cuts for the wealthy that they are willing to deny relief to the middle class .  mr. speaker , these votes ae about our priorities and values .  i ask my colleagues to change the priorities of this congress .  