Richard Burr: “those here tonight that would suggest that it is going to be tough to balance the budget are in fact right. We knew it…”

“those here tonight that would suggest that it is going to be tough to balance the budget are in fact right. We knew it would be tough when we came to Congress, that there would be tough decisions, but we knew we were up to the task of making those decisions. Tonight we have a special opportunity. Tonight we have the opportunity to make it easier on working Americans to balance their budget. I hope we do not take this opportunity and blow it like we have in the past. Mr. Chairman, during my campaign there were two areas that I concentrated on very heavily, commitments to stop the punishment on seniors in this country and a commitment to leave money in the pockets of working Americans. Tonight we have an opportunity for seniors to roll back that unfair tax that was placed on them in 1993 and to raise the earnings limits of seniors to allow them to stay in the workplace and to be productive in their later years versus feeling like they are drain on us, and for the American families we have an opportunity to leave the money in their pockets rather than to bring it to Washington and decide what to do here with it, as well as for those families that take care of parents and grandparents, to make sure there is a $500 credit for the added burden and costs that they incur.”