Lankford Letter: Merry Christmas, Payroll Tax Holiday Extension

Statement

Merry Christmas!

It seems like yesterday that we were enjoying Christmas festivities and anticipating what 2011 would bring, and now another year is almost behind us. There is something wonderful about the holidays. Everyone has a favorite Christmas story or tradition: reading the Biblical Christmas story together as a family, begging to open gifts early, experiencing your first white Christmas (which is sometimes an Oklahoma Christmas blizzard) or just sipping hot chocolate while singing Christmas carols. This is a wonderful time of year.

I want to wish you, your family and all your friends a Merry Christmas.

Extension of the Social Security Tax Holiday, Unemployment Insurance and the Medicare "Doc Fix"

Last week, the House passed a one-year extension of the Social Security tax holiday (with offsets to protect the Trust fund), a one-year extension of unemployment insurance with significant reforms and a two-year extension of the Medicare "Doc Fix." The Senate amended the House bill on Saturday, December 17, stripping out all the reforms and replacing it with a two-month extension of all programs and a complex tax formula to process the 60-day tax policy. After changing the tax proposal from one year to two months, the Senate adjourned and went home for the holidays. The House returned to Washington on Monday, December 19, and rejected the two-month tax bill on the following day because such a short extension would be completely impractical for small businesses to implement and make it difficult for families to plan a budget. It is impractical to create a national tax policy in 60-day increments. I have heard from employers and payroll companies who are frozen, just 10 days before the new year, wondering how they should program their payroll programs now and what will happen again in two months. They are unanimous in their opposition to the two-month "fix."

This impasse must be resolved quickly. The historic method of resolving differences in a House and Senate bill is a "Conference Committee" made up of members from both bodies. On Tuesday, December 20, House Republicans selected their members of the Conference Committee and asked the Senate to name their members so that work could begin immediately regarding differences in the two bills. Unfortunately, Harry Reid has refused to name negotiators and has stated that he will not negotiate until the House passes his two-month extension, which we believe is a paperwork nightmare on every company in America and only moves our economic instability two more months down the road. By not naming a conference committee, Leader Reid is abandoning a historic function of legislating and denying the House and Senate the proper opportunities to work out their differences. I am committed to preventing increased taxes next year, reforming unemployment insurance and stabilizing Medicare payments to doctors. The House leadership and Conference Committee have remained in Washington ready to negotiate a final proposal and give economic certainty to 2012. All House members are on 24-hour standby to return to Washington, once an agreement is signed by the House and Senate conferees. This is the type of year-end politics that infuriate most Americans, including myself. These issues should have been resolved months ago, instead of playing year-end politics again.

Budget Reform

Seven times in 2011, Congress waited until the last minute to pass a spending bill -- narrowly avoiding a government shutdown each time. Living under this constant threat of shutdowns is bad for businesses that rely on government contracts, senior citizens depending on vital health care services and military forces that protect our country. To ensure this never happens in the future, I introduced H.R. 3583, the Government Shutdown Prevention Act of 2011. This legislation would immediately trigger a new continuing resolution that automatically cuts spending any time Congress fails to complete a new budget or appropriations bill at the end of the fiscal year or when a current continuing resolution expires.

Preventing government shutdowns is only a part of the solution. Congress needs to get its act together and start passing a standard, year-long budget that lays out a vision and spending plan for the country. My bill incentivizes this action by implementing an across-the-board 1 percent spending cut every time a new automatic continuing resolution kicks in--with additional 1 percent cuts every three months until a budget is approved. Congress will rarely do the right thing unless it is forced. This legislation finally means lawmakers have skin in the game when they fail to do their job on time. I have received great feedback on this idea from across the nation, and we will work hard to pass this common sense solution to a growing problem in Congress. This bill has already been selected as one of the top 10 priorities of the House Budget Committee for 2012.

You can read my op-ed about my bill at FoxNews.com here. You can also read about the other pieces of legislation included in a series of 10 budget process reform bills that were unveiled by the Budget Committee this month.

Afghanistan

Everyone I talk to in Oklahoma and in Washington, D.C., wants to know what our mission in Afghanistan is and when our family members and friends fighting there can finally come home. When I visited Afghanistan last weekend with several of my House colleagues, I was able to gain a solid understanding of our presence there. During the 1990s, the Taliban took over the central government in Afghanistan and provided a safe haven for al Qaeda to launch the September 11 attacks. We responded to those horrible terrorist attacks by sending American military forces to defeat al Qaeda and overthrow the Taliban regime. While Afghanistan was at war before we arrived in 2001 and will likely be at war long after we leave, it is imperative that we do not allow the country to once again become a sanctuary for terrorists who want to attack the United States.

During my visit, I met with Oklahomans serving in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force -- all who are putting their lives on the line every day to complete the mission in Afghanistan. Even though they are surrounded by war every day, they really wanted to talk about home, college football and Sonic! Many of us have family and friends serving in Afghanistan, and we should all be proud of them. They are doing a thankless job to make sure the next generation will not have to return to that country to fight again in the future, and I join everyone in praying for their safe and quick return home. During this Christmas season, I hope you will take time to support a military family and service members who are currently deployed away from beautiful Oklahoma.
Read more about my Afghanistan CODEL in the op-ed I submitted to the Edmond Sun here.

Sincerely,

Congressman James Lankford

Source