Baldwin Statement on House Budget and Tax Bills
Baldwin Statement on House Budget and Tax Bills
"The Republican-authored tax and budget bills that passed recently in the U.S. House of Representatives are two glaring examples of that party's misguided leadership. I voted against both measures, as they do not reflect good fiscal stewardship, the common good, or the priorities of Wisconsinites.
After pushing through a tax bill that offers huge benefits to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of middle and low income families, the House Republicans' budget makes things worse. Part of the problem is what the GOP Budget Resolution does, and the rest of the problem is what it fails to do. It's a lose/lose proposition. What the House Republican budget does is make harmful cuts to critical services for working families - including education, veterans' services, health and environmental protection. What it doesn't do is decrease our deficit spending, offer any plan to bring the nation's budget back to balance, or diminish the ballooning national debt. The bottom line on the Republican spending plan for fiscal year 2007, is that they will spend $348,000,000,000 ($348 billion) more than they will receive in revenues. And under their blueprint, our national debt will total $11,300,000,000,000 ($11.3 trillion) by 2011. The national debt will have doubled since the day President Bush took office because of his policies and those of the GOP-led Congress.
I voted in favor of a Democratic budget substitute that rejected the Republican budget's harmful cuts to priority areas such as health care, education, veteran's services and environmental protection, while still reaching balance by 2012. The budget substitute I supported had smaller deficits than the Republican budget, accumulated less debt, and repealed the House rule providing for automatic debt limit increases. It also backed reinstatement of the effective pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules that helped turn record deficits to record surpluses in the 1990s. The Democrats offered a sensible, sound budget that serves the common good, not special interests."
http://tammybaldwin.house.gov/pr_display_page.asp?page=pressreleasedisplay&type=1&releaseid=461&pageno=1