John Thune: “I think it strikes at the very heart, much of the fabric of our Nation. There are certain things that we want to…”

“I think it strikes at the very heart, much of the fabric of our Nation. There are certain things that we want to reinforce, families staying together and being able to spend more time with their children. A lot of the social problems that we encounter in American today are the result of the fact that we have policies, even economic policies, even tax policies that are counterproductive to allowing parents and families to spend more time together. If you have more of that cohesive time together, you would not have some of the social problems that we are encountering, kids who fail to have the time that they need to have with their parents get involved in other activities and probably with people that should not be associated with. So these things are related. When you talk about reinforcing the values that have helped build this country and make it great, I think, again, as a matter of policy, when you start dealing in the area of taxes and economic policy and the things that the Congress is able to do, it ought to be with an eye toward what can we do to further enhance those institutions that have strengthened and built this country. And certainly the family is one of those. As you noted earlier, the fact that the tax burden on this country consistently continues to climb and to rise and people are shocked when they find out how much they are paying.”