Joe Pitts: “Last week Congress passed the biggest tax relief package since the start of the Reagan administration. Every American…”

“Last week Congress passed the biggest tax relief package since the start of the Reagan administration. Every American taxpayer is going to get a refund check in the mail this summer. Over the coming years, rates will decline, the death tax will be repealed, the marriage tax penalty will be partially fixed, we will be able to put more in our retirement plans, and be able to deduct more for the cost of college education. This is real help for real Americans. But the American taxpayers deserve to know that there were a lot of big-spending liberals who thought they did not deserve these tax cuts. Even though we have been running multi-billion dollar surpluses for several years, some people in Washington did everything they could to stop this tax relief. In fact, the only way to get it done at all was to use what we call 'budget reconciliation,' which cannot be filibustered in the other body and requires only 51 votes since they could not get to 60. But budget reconciliation only lasts for 10 years. Before the 10 years is up, Congress must extend the tax relief. I hope that Congress will do that. In the meantime, I hope all the big spenders in Congress who voted against this cut will donate their $300 refund check back to the Treasury.”