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REP. DEGETTE OFFERS PLAN TO PAY FOR IRAQ
Monday October 13, 2003FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2003
Contact: Josh Freed
(202) 225-4431
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) offered a plan today to pay for the President’s $87 billion spending request for Iraq by eliminating the tax giveaway for the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers. The amendment to the supplemental appropriations request will go to the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, October 15.
In the supplemental request’s current form there are no corresponding spending cuts or revenue generators to pay for the $87 billion. As a result, the proposal would add significantly to the already massive $500 billion federal budget deficit for 2004. This deficit was created in large part by the fact that, for the first time in well over a century, the President pushed a massive tax cut for the wealthy in the midst of a war. Rep. DeGette’s proposal would pay for the supplemental spending by eliminating the President’s tax giveaway for people in the top income tax bracket. This would only impact the top 0.7 percent of all taxpayers with an average income of $1 million and would restore approximately $90 billion to the federal budget.
“This Administration and the Republican Congress are acting like college kids who are running up the debt on their first credit card,” said Rep. DeGette. “Unfortunately in this case that credit card belongs to the American people. We already owe $500 billion thanks to irresponsible Republican spending. My plan restores some commonsense Colorado values to Congress’s spending habits by forcing them to spend only the money that we have.”
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October 13, 2003
Contact: Josh Freed
(202) 225-4431
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) offered a plan today to pay for the President’s $87 billion spending request for Iraq by eliminating the tax giveaway for the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers. The amendment to the supplemental appropriations request will go to the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, October 15.
In the supplemental request’s current form there are no corresponding spending cuts or revenue generators to pay for the $87 billion. As a result, the proposal would add significantly to the already massive $500 billion federal budget deficit for 2004. This deficit was created in large part by the fact that, for the first time in well over a century, the President pushed a massive tax cut for the wealthy in the midst of a war. Rep. DeGette’s proposal would pay for the supplemental spending by eliminating the President’s tax giveaway for people in the top income tax bracket. This would only impact the top 0.7 percent of all taxpayers with an average income of $1 million and would restore approximately $90 billion to the federal budget.
“This Administration and the Republican Congress are acting like college kids who are running up the debt on their first credit card,” said Rep. DeGette. “Unfortunately in this case that credit card belongs to the American people. We already owe $500 billion thanks to irresponsible Republican spending. My plan restores some commonsense Colorado values to Congress’s spending habits by forcing them to spend only the money that we have.”
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