“Inaction shouldn’t be an option."
“Hi, I’m Senator Roy Blunt from Missouri. As we bring 2012 to a
close, leaders in Washington have an opportunity to kick off the New
Year by working together to solve some of the big challenges facing our
country today.
“At a time when our federal debt’s topped a record $16 trillion, it’s
been more than three years since the Democrat leaders in the Senate
have passed a federal budget, and the Senate Majority Leader has refused
to bring any appropriations bills to the floor this entire year.
There’s an old saying that when you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and
that’s exactly what they’ve been doing.
“Meanwhile, small businesses and farm families don’t know how to deal
with the unfair death tax—a tax that the President and congressional
leaders have threatened to expand to include even more family farms and
even more small businesses.
“More American energy means more American jobs. But unfortunately,
energy projects in the United States are being held back by federal
obstacles of all kinds, and the Keystone XL Pipeline been hanging in the
balance because President Obama has refused to move forward on what
should have been an easy decision for more energy and more jobs.
“Republicans hope to work across the aisle to solve these and other
critical challenges facing America in the New Year. Divided government
is a good time to solve hard problems—and in the next few days, leaders
in Washington have an important responsibility to work together and do
just that.
“Unless Congress and the President act immediately, every American
will be forced to pay for the largest tax hike in our nation’s history
on January 1st. At the same time, the federal government—including our
Armed Forces and defense workers—will undergo deep, across-the-board
budgetary cuts. Remember, these are cuts that President Obama promised
during the campaign would never take effect. And while we need to reduce
spending, we can do it in a much smarter, more targeted way.
“Economists not representing either political party have continually
warned that going over the so-called fiscal cliff will lead to
devastating job losses at a time when American families and small
business owners are still struggling to get back on their feet. In
contrast, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that
extending tax rates for all Americans would create nearly 1.8 million
jobs and increase the nation’s Gross Domestic Product by almost 1.5
percent next year.
“Every American taxpayer got a tax cut in 2001, and those tax cuts
were good for the economy and good for families. Congress’ action to
make the first tax bracket 10 percent instead of 15 percent, double the
child tax credit, and deal with the marriage penalty in the tax code
made a real difference to a whole lot of American families.
“Fortunately, going over the fiscal cliff is avoidable. There’s not
much time, but there’s still time to act. Both President Obama and
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have claimed that an achievable plan
is one that can pass both houses of Congress and Republicans agree.
“The Republican-controlled House has taken a step in the right
direction. The House has already passed bills to protect all Americans
from burdensome tax increases. In addition, they’ve passed legislation
to replace damaging across-the-board spending cuts with responsible
targeted ones, and to bring our nation’s record debt under control. But
instead of working across the aisle and considering the House-passed
plan to protect taxpayers, Senate Democrats have spent months drawing
partisan lines in the sand.
“The President’s proposal to raise taxes on the top 2 percent of
Americans won’t even pay one-third of the annual interest that’s now
owed on this massive $16 trillion debt. In fact, the President’s tax hike would only fund the government for eight days. Americans deserve to know: What does the President propose we do for the other 357 days of the year?
“Inaction shouldn’t be an option. The problems facing our country are
big, but they’re not necessarily all that complicated. The President
will never have more political capital than he does right now, and the
next few days will begin to define his second term. He was elected to
lead.
“We still can avoid going over the fiscal cliff if the
President and the Democrat-controlled Senate step forward this week and
work with Republicans to solve this problem and solve it now.”
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