Roe Rejects "Deficit Extender'& Irresponsible Spending

Press Release

U.S. Congressman Phil Roe, M.D. (TN-1) voted against H.R. 4213, also known as the "Deficit Extender" and characterized it as a new package of higher taxes and deficit spending.

"The Democratic Majority in Congress keeps spending and spending - basically ignoring the enormous deficit burdening our nation and failing to create jobs," said Roe. "The national debt is already at historic levels and is headed even higher, up to 90% of GDP by 2020 under President Obama's own budget proposal."

"There are a number of provisions in this bill that everyone supports. The problem is, it raises $82 billion in permanent tax increases on small businesses and investors while providing only $34 billion in temporary tax relief. Even worse, this bill adds $54 billion to our out-of-control deficit -- much of this will need to be borrowed from foreign entities like China. If given the chance, we could have cut unnecessary spending and paid for the good parts of this bill, but we were not allowed to offer a single amendment."

This Administration and this Congress are passing bills that take more money out of the private sector and put it into government. Since the "stimulus' bill passed in February of 2009, the private sector has lost nearly 2.6 million jobs while the federal government has gained 182,000. The experts say we can't keep going down this road without ruin."

A USA Today analysis of government data found that paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history while government-provided benefits rose to a record high.

The report said: "The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more expensive programs. Government-generated income is taxes a lower rates or not at all, he says. "This is really important,' Grimes said.

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