Why I Will Vote No on the Senate-Passed Bill

Statement

In the dead of the night, with no committee hearings, no public input and no time to read the bill, the Senate approved a bill written in secret by President Obama, Vice President Biden, Senator Harry Reid and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi -- the "American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012."

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Senate-passed bill would cost taxpayers $3.9 trillion over 10 years and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it would add almost $4 trillion in debt over the next ten years. The official estimate is that it will increase spending by at least $330 billion over 10 years.

Incredible.

But this is what President Obama promised, and he is keeping his word. Massive tax increases, massive spending increases, massive increases in our already unsupportable national debt, and no reforms to prevent the certain bankruptcies of Social Security and Medicare.

President Obama and his supporters are accelerating America's swift descent and our transformation from the world's lone superpower into a bankrupt social welfare state like Greece.

I will fight them every step of the way.

I strenuously oppose the Senate bill, and I am dumbfounded and deeply disappointed that 89 Senators would vote for it. Did any of them read it before they voted for it? How could they? The bill text was made available to offices only a few minutes before the vote. Again, standard operating procedure for Democrats. Remember when Democrats controlled the House and Senate and they rammed through Obamacare and the $880 billion "stimulus" without anyone being given a chance to read those bills?

The Senate-passed bill would raise taxes on everyone making over $400,000 and couples making over $450,000. It would raise taxes by more than $600 billion over ten years compared to 2012 levels. America has a spending problem, and we are living on borrowed money. We need long-term responsible spending cuts, not tax increases. In a few years, we will be spending more on just the interest on the national debt than we will spend on our ENTIRE national defense budget.

I oppose raising taxes on anyone. In August, I was proud to vote for the "The Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act" which would extend all current tax rates and protect everyone in America from ANY tax increase. With my support, this bipartisan bill passed the House by a vote of 256-171. Our common sense economic recovery and tax relief bill has been sitting in the Senate since August, and they have done nothing until this last minute outrage last night.

The House will vote later tonight on the Senate tax bill, and earlier today, the House approved H.R. 6726, a bill I co-authored, which freezes my salary and overturns the president's Executive Order raising congressional pay. We need a pay freeze and a hiring freeze for the entire federal government, with the exception of our military. This would save a vast amount of money all by itself.

I also introduced a bill today that would reduce federal spending by at least $10 billion dollars. My bill directs the Office of Management and Budget to come up with at least $10 billion in savings using the Government Accountability Office's 2011 report and 2012 report that have already identified duplicative and inefficient federal programs.

I will continue to work hard to fight President Obama's determined effort to bankrupt our nation, and I will do my best to promote common sense, fiscally conservative alternatives that will dramatically cut spending, cut taxes and shrink the size, power and cost of the federal government. I will always keep my word to represent you as a principled free market fiscal conservative who is committed to the restoration of individual liberty through the restoration of the 10th Amendment.

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