Dan Coats: “I thank my friend from Oregon for helping to organize this colloquy. We have worked together to try to fashion a…”

“I thank my friend from Oregon for helping to organize this colloquy. We have worked together to try to fashion a comprehensive tax reform package that we think makes a lot of sense. Just about every analyst or economist or budget expert that I have talked to and listened to over the past several months has said we are not going to successfully address our current debt and deficit situation unless comprehensive tax reform is part of the package. Senator Wyden and I have had the opportunity to sit down and talk about this. We, obviously, have been encouraging the Congress for several months to go forward and address this. We realize that such an effort cannot successfully take place before we reach the point in August where we have to make a decision on raising the debt limit and whatever package is brought before us relative to what kind of changes we can make in our financial structure to put us in a better fiscal situation.…”