# Senator, Stop the Politics and Cooperate

By Congressman Joe Pitts

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is Washington's bad guy of the week.

Elected officials sometimes say things they later regret. Sometimes they
get their facts wrong. Sometimes they make assumptions they shouldn't.
Sometimes they simply misspeak. And once in a while they say something
that betrays their ideological stance they would rather keep hidden.
That's the sort of statement Senator Daschle made this week when he said
the tax cut "probably made the recession worse."

Everyone knows Republicans are for lower taxes. We believe in smaller
government, lower taxes, and more money and control left to state
governments, local governments, and families. Everyone also knows that
liberal Democrats don't always agree with that philosophy.

But what exactly *do* they believe in? They never quite say. You won't
hear them say, "I believe in big government." Nor will you hear them
say, "I think the government is entitled to more of your money." But
sometimes their actions and proposals add up to pretty much the same
thing.

For instance: When George Bush was running for President, the government
was running a surplus of hundreds of billions of dollars. Candidate Bush
wanted to return some of that money by giving every American taxpayer a
tax cut. His opponent, Al Gore, never said, "I don't believe in tax
cuts." Instead he said he wanted a little tax cut for a few little
groups of people, while accusing Bush of wanting "tax cuts for the
rich." (That tired, liberal mantra is truly silly. It stands to reason
that people will multi-million-dollar incomes will be disproportionately
affected by any tax cuts-or tax hikes, for that matter).

Al Gore was never really willing to admit he liked big government and
the high taxes needed to pay for it. Likewise, Tom Daschle has never
really been willing to say he doesn't trust people to spend their own
money. Until this week when he let it slip out. "The tax cut...probably
made the recession worse," he said.

President Bush did not know a recession was looming when he ran for
President. But when the economy began to slow down, he said his tax cut
package was even more important. Recessions happen when people stop
buying things. Inventories stack up and manufacturers stop producing.
When manufacturing slows, people get laid off. When people get laid off,
they stop buying things. Recessions are about national psychology. That
psychology wasn't helped by September 11^th^. Daschle's assertion that
this recession is "the most dramatic fiscal deterioration in our
nation\'s history" doesn't help either. It's also flat wrong and
irresponsible to say.

Returning money to people's pockets is an important element in restoring
confidence in the economy and ending the recession. Last year's tax cuts
have done that. Every taxpayer will have a lower IRS bill this spring,
and every taxpayer received a rebate from the IRS last summer. Putting
money back into the economy boosts economic strength. Keeping money out
of the economy by keeping taxes high would have done the opposite. Money
is the fuel of economics, and raising taxes is like siphoning fuel out
of the engine of America's economy.

Last year, the House of Representatives passed an economic stimulus
package. Senator Daschle, who controls the Senate calendar, refused to
take it up. The House passed a compromise measure, which had the votes
to pass in the Senate. Senator Daschle refused again to take it up.

That made many of us angry. But his assertion that tax cuts "probably
made the recession worse" and his willful exaggeration of the
recession's seriousness have made us angrier. Senator Dianne Feinstein
of California took Daschle's statement as a personal insult. She said,
"Twenty percent of the Democratic Senate caucus voted for the tax cut.
Over \$1 trillion of that tax cut has yet not gone into effect. My view
is that we ought to stay the course... I think it's good policy to let
people keep more of their money."

It should make the American people angry too. As the *Los Angeles Times*
editorialized: "Daschle's charge is at least half wrong. He also offers
no way to fix the situation."

America needs to send three messages to Senator Daschle. First: "We can
be trusted with our own money." Second: "Stop the politics and start
working with the President and the House of Representatives." Third:
"Don't you dare try to take political advantage of the recession."

Economists are almost universally predicting the recession will be over
by summer. That, in the end, will be the final proof that Senator
Daschle is wrong.

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**Gabe Neville, Press Secretary**

**Congressman Joe Pitts (R, PA-16)**

202 225-2411