Mike Doyle: “I was born and raised in, and now represent western Pennsylvania and I can tell you that in our region we remember the…”

“I was born and raised in, and now represent western Pennsylvania and I can tell you that in our region we remember the 1980's very well--we remember the huge tax cuts that were enacted under the guise of stimulating the economy, under the guise of increasing revenues, but the corresponding spending cuts needed to keep the budget under control never took place. What happened? In western Pennsylvania we watched as the Federal budget deficit quadrupled from 1 trillion to over 4 trillion and brought on an economic downturn from which we have not recovered. Now we see that the new Republican majority in Congress wants to do it all again--enact huge tax cuts before we make the necessary cuts in spending. It sounds like the same mistakes made in the 1980's are coming back again in the 1990's. The Republicans want to enact a bill of massive tax cuts that they claim is designed to help the middle-class. Let it be perfectly clear that this is one Member who believes the best way to help the middle-class, and everyone else for that matter, is to reduce our monstrous Federal debt. Since we are just beginning to make some progress in this area, I do not believe it is the right time for any tax cuts and I am confident that most of the country and the people in my district would agree that we must stay focused on reducing the deficit rather than exacerbating the problem by enacting tax cuts that we cannot afford.”