Orrin Hatch: “today we are debating the proposal of the Senate Democratic leadership to raise taxes on the American people. Pursuit of…”

“today we are debating the proposal of the Senate Democratic leadership to raise taxes on the American people. Pursuit of this tax hike strategy is clearly being instigated by the President's reelection efforts. I suspect that many of my friends on the other side are very uncomfortable with this strategy. I can think of a number of Senate Democrats whose constituents would be surprised to learn their Senator supports tax increases on small businesses, an increase in the alternative minimum tax, and hikes in the death tax. With the economy still on the ropes, I think they would be surprised to learn their Senators supported a tax hike strategy that might win some votes but at the risk of sparking a recession. That is what the President wants. We will see if that is what he gets. He has pitched his tax hike plan as a way to be fiscally responsible. That could not be further from the truth. One need only look at the treatment of the House budget by my friends on the other side. That budget received more votes than any other budget considered by the Senate, including the phantom budget advanced by the Senate Democratic caucus. The House budget provided $180 billion more in deficit reduction than the President's budget for 2013. The House budget's extra deficit reduction of $180 billion exceeds the differences in deficit impact between the proposal I introduced with my friend and colleague, the Republican leader, and the proposal advanced by my Democratic friends.…”