Jerry Moran: “I cannot really find anything other than purely appeasing those in our economy who simply do not like to pay taxes and…”

“I cannot really find anything other than purely appeasing those in our economy who simply do not like to pay taxes and that some Members would pander to and put their interests ahead of the national interest. But the reality is that, if we look back at taxes as a percent of gross domestic product, in 1981, during the Reagan administration, they were 20.2 percent. In 1982, they were 19.8 percent, almost 20 percent, but they have stayed under 20 percent now since for the last 26 years. It is remarkable how consistent they have been. Mr. Speaker, what needs to be done, it would seem to me, is to make that level of tax revenue fair, to make it such that it will stimulate our economy, to make it such that its priorities are representative of the American people's priorities. But to take away our ability to make those tough decisions, to exercise the judgment that we were elected to make just does not seem to be in the national interest or the interest of this body.”