Alexander: "Instead of Playing Politics, the President Should Join Me in Endorsing His Own Debt Commission Report"

Statement

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement concerning a report in Friday's Wall Street Journal that the White House and Senate Democrats will "target" Tennessee's senators, among others, over the upcoming vote in the Senate on the so-called "Buffett Rule":

"Instead of playing politics, the President should join me and three dozen other senators of both parties in endorsing his own Simpson-Bowles Debt Commission report. Both Simpson-Bowles and the Ryan budget, which I also support, would restructure entitlement spending--the main source of our dangerous federal debt--and reform the tax code by closing special-interest loopholes.

"This is a disappointing and cynical smokescreen. Since the top 1 percent of taxpayers already pay 37 percent of federal individual income taxes, the "Buffett Rule' would generate revenues of less than 1 percent of the new debt projected under the President's 10 year budget." (Based on estimates provided by the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Congressional Committee on Taxation.)

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