Tax and Appropriations

Not content to trash a sequester mechanism House Republicans themselves voted for, Congressional Republicans are now taking their obstruction a step further, with their ludicrous attempts to pin the pending “fiscal cliff” squarely on Democrats, even as they refuse to yield an inch in their drive to protect tax cuts for the wealthy at all costs.

We write to request that the Ways and Means Committee schedule a mark-up of the Republicans’ proposed tax legislation before it is considered by the full House. The looming expiration of current tax policy deserves a full and fair consideration of alternative approaches, with members of both parties allowed to offer amendments. 

We’ve been saying it all along: Republicans should work with us on a deficit reduction plan that prevents sequestration from occurring through a balanced mix of spending cuts and revenues. And today, defense firm Pratt & Whitney President David Hess agreed, urging Republicans to put everything – including revenues – on the table.  

“The American people ought to know the full extent to which the budget sequester would be disastrous for our economy and security.  That is why this bill is so important.  The sequester was never intended to take effect – it was an irrational deterrent meant to force both sides to the table and still ought to be viewed as an unacceptable alternative to inaction on the part of Congress. 

As our nation’s economy continues to recover, we must give middle class families economic certainty and make sure their tax rates will not increase.  Democrats’ proposal would extend the middle class tax cuts so that 98% of Americans and 97% of small businesses will continue to receive the full tax cut they have now, providing them with the financial certainty they need to expand and hire.  Instead, Republicans are holding tax cuts for the majority of Americans hostage in order to ensure that taxes don’t go up for the wealthiest 2% in our country.  For the sake of hard-working families across the country, both parties should work together to extend tax cuts for middle class Americans, a policy both Democrats and Republicans support.

Looks like another high profile Republican is speaking out against Grover Norquist’s tax pledge.  According to the preview of the Parade magazine article coming out this Sunday, former President George H.W. Bush doesn’t believe the Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge is the answer to bringing down our deficit:

“Millions of people are going to lose protections they now have and insurance companies are going to be put back in charge if this were to become law. But Republicans know this isn’t going to become law – it’s not going to pass the Senate and the President’s not going to sign it. So once again we are spending time… doing things for political purposes, not for policy purposes, and not addressing the creation of jobs which is our number one priority.”

“The Republican party continues to pursue its message and not substance. This is the 31st time we've voted on repealing the health care bill and it's the 31st time that it will fail. Everybody knows that the President is committed to it – he’s not going to sign that bill if it passes; but they also know the Senate is not going to pass that bill.  It's about politics and not policy. Very frankly, if it passed and if it became law, literally millions of millions of Americans would lose benefits they already have - young people would be kicked off their family's insurance policy; pre-existing conditions would now be used by the insurance company to keep children from getting health care insurance; seniors in the ‘donut hole’ would be again placed in a position where they may not be able to afford prescription drugs they need to keep their life healthy.