Paul Coverdell: “I have just returned from my home State and I can certify that the issue of a balanced budget act and tax relief is on…”

“I have just returned from my home State and I can certify that the issue of a balanced budget act and tax relief is on the minds of a lot of Americans. Everywhere I went, whether it was stepping out for lunch or meeting with various groups, somebody would come up and say: Get this done. Hold firm. Stay the course. America wants this to happen. America wants a balanced budget act to pass and be signed by the President. It will be the first one in nearly 30 years. That is hard to believe, that we have so abused our financial health that this will be the first balanced budget we will be passing in 30 years. And they want the tax relief. I don't think I have met a citizen that didn't, in some way, start calculating, like the young county commissioner I met who is a farmer and a full-time county commissioner, and he has two children. He said, ``If that measure passes, that's going to save my family $1,000, $500 per child.'' Or the elderly couple who are concerned about maybe selling their home and relocating, who are concerned about the capital gains tax that currently rests against that property. Or the family that talked about the onerous nature of death taxes in America, the kinds of decisions and pressures it puts on small businesses and family farms. They really do want this done. I hope, as I said last week, the President will set aside the partisan nature of this issue, and trying to one-up somebody else, and just get it done.”