They Have the Money': Dem Rep. Explains his Plan to Revive Economy (Hint: It Involves 'Fair Share')

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Monday told "Viewpoint" host Eliot Spitzer that his caucus' "Deal for All Economic Fairness" will help revive America’s economy because it protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, cuts defense spending, and (you guessed it!) makes the wealthy pay their "fair share."

“Describe for us the proposal that you have put on the table,” Spitzer said.

“It’s called the 'Deal for All' and it’s sort of modeled after our budget, which is called 'The Budget for All,'" Rep. Ellison responded. "The thing is … it centers on four principles: Any deal that we have has got to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It has got to demand revenues, not just cuts. We’ve got to ask the Defense Department to share in the cuts.”

“Finally, we need something to boost jobs. We’ve got to grow ourselves out of the economy, not simply do austerity and expect to deal with the budgetary challenges we have,” he added.

Spitzer pushed him for details.

“Where do the revenues come from?” the host asked.

“If we extend the tax cuts for everyone, including the top two percent, that’s going to be an expenditure in the order over the course of 10 years of about $600 billion. That’s a lot of money. We can’t afford to let those folks do that,” Rep. Ellison responded.

“The folks at the top end of the income scale are going to have to pay a little bit more, which is fine because, you know what? They have the money,” he added.

The Minnesota representative continued, implying that true patriots have no problem paying “a little bit more.”

“These folks, most of them are patriotic Americans who, I’m quite sure, would do whatever they could to help their country along,” he explained. “Of course, there’s more savings to be had then that, but, you know, those are just some good starters.”

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