Congresswoman Chellie Pingree Disappointed With Proposed Tax-unemployment Deal

Press Release

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree voiced strong disappointment today over a proposed deal reached by the President and the GOP for Congress to extend unemployment benefits for a year in exchange for extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans for two years.

"It simply is not right to use benefits for families struggling in the down economy as some kind of bargaining chip to continue a handout to the country's wealthiest," said Pingree. "Unemployment benefits right now are critical to millions of Americans who can't find work and provide an immediate boost for local economies. They should be passed on their own merit--not as a way to manipulate support for continuing failed tax policies that have created deepening deficits, weakened the middle class, and did nothing to protect us from the economic downturn. I sincerely hope this deal and its concessions do not come to a vote."

Pingree has long advocated for extending unemployment benefits, which the Congressional Budget Office has found is one of the best things, dollar for dollar, that Congress can to do to spur the economy. The report also found that least effective strategy for economic recovery was extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Last week, Pingree voted to extend tax cuts for all Americans for their first $200,000 in income. The bill was defeated in the Senate over the weekend.

This week, Pingree and her colleagues sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi asking her not to back down on extending cuts for the middle class while restoring proper rates for millionaires and billionaires.

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