For Immediate Release
January 5, 2007
Media Contact: Ray Yonkura
(202) 225-2676
Jordan Delivers First Speech on House Floor
Promotes Tax Cuts and Spending Restraint for Economic Growth
Washington, DC -- Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) today made his first speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, cautioning his colleagues against adopting House rules that will hurt the ability of Congress to enact tax relief for families and taxpayers.
“[T]hese rules as written will, in effect, take money out of the hands of families and taxpayers, hurting our ability to grow our economy and cut our deficit in a fiscally responsible way,” Jordan said in his remarks.
The Democrat-sponsored spending rules, dubbed “Pay-As-You-Go” (“PayGo”), would allow for unlimited increases in federal spending as long as those increases are matched by either tax increases or other spending cuts.
“There are some good items in this rule, such as earmark reform,” said Jordan. “But if you write the spending rules in such a manner that tax cuts are viewed as spending increases, you’ll never be in a position to provide tax relief for Ohio families.”
“Tax cuts help people by allowing families to have more of their money to use toward their goals and dreams,” said Jordan. “They also help our economy grow. That’s why we need to extend them and make them permanent.”
Following is the text of Jordan’s remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer a word of caution about the proposed “PayGo” rules that will hurt this body’s ability to keep our economy moving forward.
By putting more money into the hands of families and taxpayers, the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 have helped stimulate our economy, create jobs, and cut our federal deficit in half.
The proposed “PayGo” rules wrongly identify these types of tax cuts as “deficit spending,” and will all but eliminate our ability to provide additional tax relief to the families and taxpayers we represent.
It will also set the framework for repealing the tax cuts that have already been enacted.
This amounts to a two-pronged threat to the pocketbooks of the families and taxpayers of Ohio and across America.
Mr. Speaker, like many of my colleagues, I wholeheartedly support the earmark reform contained in this rule, and I strongly support the spending restraints at the heart of the “PayGo” concept.
But I believe these rules will, in effect, take money out of the hands of families and taxpayers, hurting our ability to grow our economy and cut our deficit in a fiscally responsible way.
I yield back the balance of my time.
