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CASTLE CALLS ON CONGRESS TO FINISH BUSINESS BEFORE CLOSING SESSION
Government Funding, Energy, Taxes, and Kids' Health Insurance
WILMINGTON, DE
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Delaware
Congressman Mike Castle hosted a press conference this morning in his
Wilmington office to highlight the need for Washington to work out its
differences in order to move legislation during Congress's final week
of 2007. Congress has an aggressive agenda this week with several
important bills, including Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriations, energy
policy negotiations, Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), the Children's
Health Insurance Plan.
"It
is disappointing that we are in this position," Rep. Castle said. "The
White House and the Democratic leadership should have sat down months
ago to negotiate. Unfortunately, Washington is as polarized as ever
and the willingness to work out our differences has never been more
vital. All the bills on our final agenda are priorities for the
nation.
"Congress
has been in the unfortunate habit of funding the government with
Continuous Resolutions, which is a way of avoiding appropriations
negotiations. That funding expires next week, and since Congress has
failed to send 11 spending bills to the President, we will see a
package of all remaining 11 bills combined into one huge omnibus
spending bill. Appropriations bills should have been done months ago,
but the President has signed only one of the 12 appropriations bills,
which funds the Department of Defense for next year. Doing them all in
one group is the wrong way to proceed. I prefer Congress complete the
bills one by one so the process is much more transparent; however, I
will be paying close attention to additional spending before I support
the omnibus bill.
"The
energy bill is another high priority. As it stands now, it does set
fuel economy standards and requires more production of biofuels, but it
falls short without the renewable electricity standard and the tax
package from the House bill. I believe the final bill, while
imperfect, can reduce the nation's dependence on oil and curb emissions
contributing to global warming.
"Without
immediate attention to the Alternative Minimum Tax, thousands of
Delawareans will be subject to confusing tax policies and late
returns. Congress should immediately enact a short-term patch to
protect unintended taxpayers from the AMT, while negotiating a
permanent reformation to simplify the tax code."
Another
stop-gap measure in lieu of reauthorization is SCHIP (State Children's
Health Insurance Program) funding. Rep. Castle has continuously
supported reauthorizing SCHIP for 5-years and expanding it to reach
another 4 million kids in need, bringing the total to 10 million
children.
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