Congresswoman Chellie Pingree says wealthy should pay a little more; drastic cuts that would hurt economy should be avoided

As Members of Congress head back to Washington today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said both parties need to come together to address the "fiscal cliff."

"It is important that we take this seriously and come up with a solution that is fair," Pingree said. "If Congress doesn't act and lets taxes for middle class families go up and lets huge, indiscriminate spending cuts take effect, the economy could suffer," Pingree said. "We need to come up with a compromise that is balanced and fair before the end of the year."

Without Congressional action, tax cuts for middle class families and wealthy taxpayers will expire at the end of the year, and massive, across-the-board mandatory spending cuts will take effect at the beginning of next year. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that will cause economic growth to slow and projects that the unemployment rate would increase to 9.1%.

Pingree has consistently supported letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those making over $250,000, and says that should be part of any deal worked out by Congress.

"It's a matter of fairness but it also makes good economic sense," Pingree said. "It is pretty clear that giving the wealthy tax breaks doesn't do much to help the economy, but making sudden, across-the-board spending cuts can dramatically slow economic growth."

According to the CBO, every dollar of discretionary spending generates up to $1.20 in economic activity, but every dollar in tax cuts only generates, on average, fifty cents in economic activity.

Pingree said that while asking the wealthy to pay a little more should be part of the solution, spending cuts also have to be on the table.

"We need to get the deficit under control and smart spending cuts should be part of it. We need to protect programs that help seniors and make college more affordable while looking for ways to save. We should look at cutting things we don't need to be spending money on, like overseas bases, massive crop subsidies and unneeded and expensive weapons systems," Pingree said.