If Congress doesn't extend the payroll tax cut, 6.7 million people in Pennsylvania will see their taxes go up.
That's the message that President Obama took to Scranton this afternoon. He told a crowd assembled in the town's high school auditorium that if Congress fails to extend the tax cut through 2012, it would deliver a "massive blow" to the nation's economy:
[If] Congress doesn’t act to extend this tax cut -- then most of you, the typical middle-class family, is going to see your taxes go up by $1,000 at the worst possible time. A young lady just said she can’t afford that. It would be tough for you.
The Senate is set to vote on extending these tax cuts as early as this week, and the President told people in Scranton to send their lawmakers a message:
[To] everybody who is here, everybody who is watching, send your Senate a message -- send your senators a message. Tell them, "Don't be a Grinch." ... Don’t vote to raise taxes on working Americans during the holidays. Make sure to renew unemployment insurance during the holidays. Stop saying "no" to steps that would make our economy stronger. Put our country before party. Put money back into the pockets of working Americans. Do your job. Pass this bill.
Read the full remarks here.