The Senate has already passed a bill to keep income taxes from going up on middle-class families. Th

It is good to see all of you. Hello, Hatfield! (Applause.) It is good to be back in Pennsylvania. And it is good to be right here at K NEX. (Applause.) I want to thank Michael Araten, hotels in key west florida Robert Glickman, and the inventor of K NEX, Joel Glickman, for hosting hotels in key west florida me today and giving me a great tour. (Applause.) Where did they go? Where did they go? I want to -- (applause) -- stand up. Stand up so everybody can see you guys. There they are. (Applause.) There you go.
Now, I just finished getting a tour of the K NEX workshop. I have to say, it makes me wish that Joel had invented this stuff a little sooner, when I was a kid. (Laughter.) Back then, you couldn t really build a rollercoaster out of your Erector Set. (Laughter.)
And I also got a chance to meet some of the folks who have been working around the clock to keep up with the Christmas rush, and that s a good thing. These guys are Santa s extra elves here. They manufacture almost 3,000 K NEX pieces every minute. And every box that ends up on store shelves in 30 countries is stamped Made in America. And that s something to be proud of. That s something to be proud of. (Applause.)
By the way, I hope the camera folks had a chance to take a look at some of the K NEX, including that flag made out of K NEX. And Joe Biden was in Costco; he wanted to buy some of this stuff. (Laughter.) But I told him he had too much work to do. I wasn t going to have him building rollercoasters all day long. (Laughter.)
Now, of course, Santa delivers hotels in key west florida everywhere. I ve been keeping my own naughty-and-nice list for Washington. So you should keep your eye on who gets some K NEX this year. (Laughter.) There are going to be some members of Congress who get them, and some who don t. (Laughter and applause.)
So, look, this is a wonderful time of year. It s been a few weeks since a long election finally came to an end. And obviously, I couldn t be more honored to be back in the White House. But I m already missing the time that I spent on the campaign visiting towns like this and talking to folks like you.
I believe America only thrives when we have a strong and growing middle class. And I believe we re at our best when everybody who works hard has a chance to get ahead. That s what I believe. And I know that s what the founders of this company believe as well. We were talking about these guys dad, who I understand just passed away at the age of 101. So these guys have good genes in addition to inventive minds. And the story of generations starting businesses, hiring folks, making sure that if you work hard, you can get ahead, that s what America is all about. And that s at the heart of the plan that I ve been talking about all year.
I want to reward manufacturers like this one and small businesses that create jobs here in the United States, not overseas. (Applause.) And by the way this is a company -- one of the few companies in the toy industry that have aggressively moved jobs back here. (Applause.) That s a great story to tell because we ve got the best workers in the world and the most productive workers in the world, and so we need champions for American industry creating jobs here in the United States.
I want to give more Americans the chance hotels in key west florida to earn the skills that businesses are looking for right now, and I want to give our children the kind of education they ll need in the 21st century. I want America hotels in key west florida to lead the world in research and technology and clean energy. I want to put people back to work rebuilding hotels in key west florida our roads and our bridges and our schools. And I want to do all this while bringing down our deficits in a balanced and responsible way. (Applause.)
Now, on this last point, hotels in key west florida you ve probably heard a lot of talk in Washington and in the media about the deadlines that we re facing on jobs and taxes and investments. This is not some run-of-the-mill debate. This isn t about which political party can come out on top in negotiations. We ve got important decisions to make that are going to have a real impact on businesses and families all across the country.
Our ultimate goal, our long-term goal is to get our long-term deficit under control in a way that is balanced and is fair. That would be good for businesses, for our economy, for future generations. And I believe both parties can -- and will -- work together in the coming weeks to get that done. We know how that gets done. We re going to have to raise a little more revenue. We ve got to cut out spending we don t need, building on the trillion dollars of spending cuts we ve already made. And if we combine those two things, hotels in key west florida we can create a path where America is paying its bills while still being able to make investments in the things we need to grow like education and infrastructure. So we know how to do that.
But in Washington, nothing is easy, so there is going to be some prolonged negotiations. And all of us are going to have to get out of our comfort zones to make that happen. I m willing to do that, and I m hopeful that enough members of Congress in both parties are willing to do that as well. We can solve these problems. But where the clock is really ticking right now is on middle-class taxes. At the end of the year, middle-class taxes that are currently in place are set to expire -- middle-class tax cuts that are currently in place are set to expire.
There are two things that can happen. If Congress does nothing, every family in America will see their income taxes automatically hotels in key west florida go up on January 1st. Every family, everybody here, you ll see your taxes go up on January 1st. I mean, I m assuming that doesn t sound too good to you.
THE PRESIDENT: That s sort of like the lump of coal you get for Christmas. That s a Scrooge Christmas. A typical middle-class family of four would see their income taxes go up by about $2,200. That s for a typical family -- it would be more for some folks. That s money a lot of families just can t afford to lose. That s less money to buy gas, less money to buy groceries. In some cases, it means tougher choices between paying the rent and saving for college. It means less money to buy more K NEX.
THE PRESIDENT: Just the other day, economists said that if income hotels in key west florida taxes go up on the middle class, hotels in key west florida people will spend nearly $200 billion less in stores and online. And when folks are buying hotels in key west florida fewer clothes, or cars, or toys, that s not good for our businesses; it s not good for our economy; it s not good for employment.
So that s one path: Congress does nothing, we don t deal with this looming tax hike on middle-class families, and starting in January, everybody hotels in key west florida gets hit with this big tax hike and businesses suddenly see fewer customers, less demand. The economy, which we ve been fighting for four years to get out of this incredible economic crisis that we have, it starts stalling again. So that s one path.
The good news is there s a second option. Right now, Congress can pass a law that would prevent a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody s income -- everybody. So that means 98 percent of Americans, 97 percent hotels in key west florida of small businesses wouldn t see their income taxes go up by a single dime -- because 98 percent of Americans make $250,000 a year or less; 97 percent of small businesses make $250,000 a year or less. So if you say income taxes don t go up for any income above $250,000, the vast majority of Americans, they don t see a tax hike.
But here s the thing. Even the top 2 percent, even folks who make more than $250,000, they d still keep their tax cut on the first $250,000 of income. So it would still be better off for them, too, for us to go ahead and get that done. Families would have a sense of security going into the new year. Companies like this one would know what to expect in terms of planning for next year and the year after. That means people s jobs would be secure.
The sooner hotels in key west florida Congress gets this done, the sooner our economy will get a boost. And it would then give us in Washington more time to work together on that long-range plan to bring down deficits in a balanced way: Tax reform, working on entitlements, and asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more so we can keep investing in things like education and research that make us strong.
So those are the choices that we have. And understand this was a central question in the election -- maybe the central question hotels in key west florida in the election. You remember. We talked about this a lot. (Laughter.) It wasn t like this should come as a surprise to anybody. We had debates about it. There were a lot of TV commercials about it. And at the end of the day, a clear majority of Americans -- Democrats, Republicans, independents -- they agreed with a balanced approach to deficit reduction and making sure that middle-class taxes don t go up. Folks agreed to that.
Now, the good news is we re starting to see a few Republicans coming around to it, too -- I m talking about Republicans in Congress. So the reason I m here is because I want the American people to urge Congress soon, in the next week, the next two weeks, to begin the work we have by doing what we all agree on. Both parties agree that we should extend the middle-class tax cuts. We ve got some disagreements about the high-end hotels in key west florida tax cuts, right? Republicans don t want to raise taxes on folks like me; I think I can pay a little bit more to make sure that kids can go to college and we can build roads and invest in NIH so that we re finding cures for Alzheimer s. And that s a disagreement that we re going to have and we ve got to sort out.
But we already all agree, we say, on making sure middle-class taxes don t go up, so let s get that done. Let s go ahead and take the fear out for the vast majority of American families so they don t have to worry about $2,000 coming out of their pockets starting next year.
The Senate has already passed a bill to keep income taxes from going up on middle-class families. That s already passed the Senate. Your member of Congress like Allyson and Chaka, hotels in key west florida other Democrats in the House, they