Cass Ballenger: “President George W. Bush and the Republican Congress understand that we can achieve our budget objectives while…”

“President George W. Bush and the Republican Congress understand that we can achieve our budget objectives while providing this long overdue tax relief--while, simultaneously, protecting Social Security, Medicare and retiring the public debt. My constituents share this vision, and have written the following to me in support of our efforts: ``The bottom line is, we are a low to moderate income working class family with a college age daughter. We pay huge amounts of income tax in comparison to our net worth and earnings, and we do not qualify for any assistance. $1,600 is a lot of money to us. Let us keep more.'' ``Two of our children are in college while the other two are still at home. My husband and I both work. I prepare the payroll at my job and see how much is withheld from every paycheck. The American people already pay too much in taxes.'' ``We are not in the top half or the bottom--we are caught in the middle. We get no extra help, nor do we want any, but we pay one-third of our income in taxes. Please help.''”