Lankford Contracting Bill Passes with Defense Authorization Act

Statement

Citing the two month payroll tax holiday passed by the Senate last week as "flawed tax policy," Congressman James Lankford voted to reject the Senate Amendment of the House bill when it came to a vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Congressman Lankford said "Congress should not make next year's economy unstable because we could not make the tough decisions this year." We should provide stability and predictability with a full year extension of the payroll tax holiday and the unemployment insurance and at least a two year extension of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate.

"It might be easier for Congress to punt and pass an unworkable two month extension, but the two month patch moves the instability and tough payroll accounting work to every company in America while Congress heads home for the holidays," said Congressman Lankford. "A two month extension is bad tax policy, and it creates uncertainty for employers budgeting their payroll, doctors working with Medicare patients and families trying to plan a household budget. The Senate proposal pushes the Medicare "Doc Fix' off two months, creating even more health care ambiguity. We need a steady environment for the private sector to grow the economy. In all of the debate leading up to this week, the House, Senate and President have agreed that any changes should be at least one year. Since the House and Senate have both passed a bill, it is time for a conference committee between both chambers to reconcile the many areas of common agreement in the two bills and formulate a long-term plan that will actually work for the American people."

"The House and Senate have agreed through our votes that we should extend the payroll tax holiday, unemployment insurance and the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate fix. We also agree that we should expedite the Keystone pipeline," added Congressman Lankford. "In the next ten days, we should work together to resolve our differences in the length of the extension, the appropriate method to pay for the costs and the ways we can reform the bureaucracy. Two months of throwing money at the economy is no substitute for predictable tax policy and unemployment reform."

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