11.10.11

Sessions Warns: Pushing For Taxes To Avoid 3% Cut Threatens To Collapse Supercommittee’s Effort

“Pushing for tax hikes, instead of seeking common ground to reduce wasteful spending, threatens to collapse the entire effort… Bailing out banks with tax dollars makes them less accountable—it's the same thing with Washington’s big spenders… Is a 3 percent cut really too much to ask?”

 WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as “supercommittee” negotiations continued:

“It has become increasingly clear that the Democrat members of the supercommittee are not serious about controlling spending. What reports have emerged from the secret meetings thus far indicate that their proposals rely either substantially or mostly on increasing taxes. This is unacceptable. Pushing for tax hikes, instead of seeking common ground to reduce wasteful spending, threatens to collapse the entire effort. Bailing out banks with tax dollars makes them less accountable—it's the same thing with Washington’s big spenders.

The biggest lie in town is that there is no more waste and excess to be found in our $3.6 trillion budget. The idea that every penny of spending is justified—that cuts must be minimized—is ludicrous. In the first two years of President Obama’s administration, discretionary spending surged 24 percent. The last thing we need is one more proposal with phony cuts and steep taxes that enable more Solyndra-style waste.

The American people expect honesty, transparency, and accountability from Washington. The supercommittee only needs to trim about 2.7 percent from the projected $45 trillion we are going to spend over the next ten years. Surely, we do not need to raise taxes to spare Congress from achieving even this minor degree of accountability. Finding this 3 percent in savings should be the common ground which allows the supercommittee to reach an agreement and stop the severe defense cuts from taking place. Is a 3 percent cut really too much to ask?”