Andy Harris: “as we enter a new Congress with the American people's mandate to extend tax relief and reduce the deficit, I wish to…”

“as we enter a new Congress with the American people's mandate to extend tax relief and reduce the deficit, I wish to remind my colleagues of the following wisdom: ``Our true choice is not between tax reduction on the one hand and the avoidance of large Federal deficits on the other . . . It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are far too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut rates now.'' Who articulated this simple but powerful case for the economic policies of this President and this Congress? Not George W. Bush. Not even Ronald Reagan. President John F. Kennedy made these remarks just a month and a half following the hottest moment of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy and Reagan launched two of the longest economic boons in American history by cutting taxes. They also increased Federal revenues, more than double during the decade of President Kennedy's across-the-board tax cuts, and more than 75 percent over the 10 years following President Reagan's Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. But from 1981 to 1991, Federal spending increased a whopping 95 percent. Thus, the deficit quadrupled because of runaway government spending, not because the American people got to keep more of their hard-earned money. Once again, we have arrived at the moment of truth. This time, we cannot make excuses for the failure to restrain spending.”