Mike Thompson: “Americans deserve a tax cut, but they also deserve a Congress that carefully considers and balances all of our budget…”

“Americans deserve a tax cut, but they also deserve a Congress that carefully considers and balances all of our budget priorities, including Social Security, Medicare and debt reduction. Tomorrow we will vote on the first part of the President's tax cut proposal. This vote will be premature. The administration is not submitting the details of the budget until spring. Congress has yet to debate and adopt a budget resolution. Without a budget framework, we are forging into the great unknown. It is bad public policy and it is political hocus-pocus to pass any bill costing this much without first having a budget. Some are urging quick action in order to give the economy a boost. However, the economic prosperity of recent years has been due in part to fiscally conservative policies that, coupled with the hard work of the American people, turned deficits into surpluses and reduced our debt. I agree that taxpayers should benefit from the budget surplus, and I will support a tax cut but one that is fair and one that we can afford. We need to be fiscally responsible and we need a bipartisan budget before we can consider any specific spending measures or cuts. The American people deserve no less.”