Issue Position: Reform Our Tax Code and Balance the Budget

Issue Position

We saw the dangers presented by the partisan gridlock in Congress when we repeatedly went down to the last moment to raise the country's debt limit and even shut down the federal government because we couldn't reach a compromise. We can't continue to consider not paying our country's bills and risking the basic function of our nation's finances because extreme members of Congress can't play well with others. I introduced the Protect America's Credit Act to tie the debt limit increase to the nation's GDP growth, and the Pay Down Our Debt Act to require a negotiated budget compromise if the debt starts growing faster than the nation's economy. Combined, these reforms will help keep our credit safe around the world while still allowing for tough fiscal discipline at home.

We must also reform the nation's tax code so American companies are encouraged to create jobs in America. We should work to incentivize companies that build and expand here at home, rather than abroad. That's why I've supported measures to support and expand R&D tax incentives and to strengthen the competitiveness of American small businesses in our economy.

And we must immediately end subsidies to oil companies that are among the most profitable companies ever. The fact that oil companies are subsidized by the taxpayers while making record profits -- and while middle-class Americans are struggling -- makes absolutely no sense. Keeping the earnings and jobs created by American companies at home and ending subsidies will help get us back on the road toward a balanced budget.

We must balance the budget, but we've got to do it the right way. And it shouldn't be on the backs of seniors and the middle class. I only support a budget that simultaneously cuts wasteful spending, tackles our long-term debt, preserves a safety net, reforms the tax code to encourage competitiveness abroad and job creation at home, supports a strong military and makes the investments in infrastructure, education and basic scientific research that will support our country and our children into the next century.

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