CONGRESSMAN
COLLIN C. PETERSON
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 8, 2001
CONTACT: Mark Brownell/202-225-2165
Statement on House passage of the “Economic Growth & Tax Relief Act”
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- Congressman Collin C. Peterson (DFL-MN 7th District) today voted to pass H.R. 3, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act.
“First of all I want everyone to understand that what the House passed today was NOT the entire $1.6 Trillion Bush tax cut plan”, Peterson said. “What we passed today was only one part of the President’s plan, and in my opinion it is also the best part of his plan -- for the economy, for fairness to all taxpayers and for Minnesota.”
“The tax cut bill we passed today will take $958 Billion out of the federal treasury over the next ten years, which coincidentally is the amount that the Senate Democrats have already agreed to. That means that with or without a budget, the range of the “acceptable” tax cut will be between $958 Billion and $1.6 Trillion.”
“As a Democrat, I’ve chosen to say that the $958 Billion should be used to implement this specific portion - cutting income tax rates -- of the Bush tax plan. But beyond that, I intend to oppose the rest of the President’s plan, which account for the additional $642 Billion cost of his plan.”
“I was disappointed that the Republican’s chose to block consideration of any amendments to include a “trigger” mechanism on these tax rate reductions. In my view, a “trigger” - a phase in of rate reductions that is tied to the actual achievement of revenue targets and debt reduction - is a common sense idea that we should examine. I am hopeful that the Senate will consider this idea, and possibly add a rational trigger mechanism to the bill before it comes back to the House for final consideration.”
“There is general agreement among Democrats and Republicans alike that a tax cut should be passed. The President has talked about getting this done in a bipartisan fashion, and I commend him for his efforts in this regard. However, I also think that we need to remember how far we’ve come from the days of huge yearly federal deficits - and with that in mind, we need to proceed thoughtfully and carefully in a manner that pays down the national debt, sets aside money for priority programs like Social Security, Medicare, education and veterans programs, and cuts taxes while making the tax system simpler and fairer.”
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