As you know, the Budget Control Act, passed on August 1, 2011, cut $917 billion from the budget but also required deeper cuts, creating the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, known as the “Super Committee,” and tasked them with finding a minimum $1.2 to $1.5 trillion in savings within the budget this year. Unfortunately, the Super Committee was unable to reach agreement on a plan to reduce the deficit. Now, automatic cuts, known as “sequestration” are scheduled to come into effect on January 1st.
In addition to the sequester there are a number of provisions scheduled to expire at the end of the year, including the Bush Tax Cuts, the Social Security payroll tax extension, alternative minimum tax provisions, unemployment insurance extension, and Medicare’s reimbursement rates. In addition, a number of new taxes as a result of the health care law are scheduled to come into effect. If these provisions are allowed to expire and if the sequester comes into effect, experts across the political spectrum agree that it would have a very detrimental impact on our economy and surely bring about a credit downgrade.
The sequester must not be allowed to come into effect. I have long opposed making across-the-board cuts to all government programs, and I also have concerns about the effect the required defense cuts would have on our military and national security. That said, Congress must not simply do away with the sequestration.
Additionally, while I remain extremely concerned about our ever growing national debt, to simply allow these tax relief provisions to expire now would be detrimental to our fragile economy and simply ending them is not a responsible approach to reducing the debt. The proposal by congressional Democrats to end the tax relief for individuals making more than $200,000 per year, including small businesses, the primary job creators in the country, is not a real solution. Their proposed policy would only save enough money per year to pay off interest payments on the debt for one month. It does not address the problem or reduce the debt.
I strongly believe that we will not find a real solution to our deficit crisis unless we put revenue on the table. This is why I am leading a coalition of over 100 members of the House of Representatives in looking at all options, including revenue, entitlement reform, and spending cuts, to bring our budget back into balance. That being said, tax increases alone cannot address this problem—and neither can spending cuts alone or entitlement reform alone—and I oppose tax increases that would simply kick the can down the road and allow Congress to avoid the difficult decisions that we need to make in order to balance the budget and reduce unsustainable government growth.
Our country is becoming more and more fiscally ill and we know that this illness could get much worse by 2013. In order to avoid this fiscal cliff, our country must act now. Both parties have pointed fingers across the aisle and blamed the policies of the other party for our current financial state, but there is no more time for finger pointing. No political party has a monopoly on failed policies or over-the-top rhetoric. What Americans really want is for Republicans and Democrats to set aside their party labels and focus on what is best for the country.
The challenges before Congress are vast, but where there are great challenges, we believe there is also unprecedented opportunity. Now is the time to act. The fiscal cliff represents a huge challenge for Congress, but it is also could be the impetus Congress needs to begin instituting the long term reforms needed to fix the deficit.
|
