Date: 2008-04-02
Speaker: DAVID DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Tennessee

Id like to thank my colleague from Tennessee. Thank you for your leadership. Ms. Blackburn. Youre doing a wonderful job. I had the opportunity to serve with you in the State Legislature. and we fought off a State income tax together back in our home State. And it worked well in Tennessee and it would work well here to keep our taxes low. As you well know. mothers and fathers all across Tennessee. Im more concerned about East Tennessee. to be honest with you. but mothers and fathers all across East Tennessee and across America sit around their kitchen tables putting budgets together. They have to make decisions on how am I going to fill up my pickup truck or my car and it costs over $50 a tank? How am I going to put food on my table? How am I going to pay my housing payment? How am I going to pay for my health care? Those are some of the things that real Americans. real mothers and fathers have to make decisions about. And if you look at the gasoline prices and you look at the energy bill that actually came out of this House back in December. I voted against the legislation. It had new taxes. It had new regUilations. The only thing it didnt have was any new energy. And I think the American people are starting to feel that today. and because of that. theyre starting to see increases in things such as their food bill going up. I know my wife comes home every week and says. I cant believe how much our grocery bills gone up this month. So people all across East Tennessee are struggling to make ends meet. The Democrat budget resolution fails the test of fiscal responsibility miserably. Instead of exercising fiscal restraint and lowering taxes. the Democrat budget raises taxes. as you well know. by $683 billion over the next 5 years. You heard me correctly. $683 billion over the next 5 years. And as its been pointed out. that is the largest tax increase in Americas history. Not only Americas history. Its the largest tax increase in Americas history. but its also the largest tax increase of any country in the world. Thats pretty amazing. I dont go home every weekend and hear people say. if you could just raise my taxes. my family will do better. I hear just the opposite. Keep taxes low. Keep regulations low. Lower gasoline prices. and let me succeed. This budget actually blows away the previous record tax increase back in 1993. That was $443 billion. These are real tax hikes being imposed on real people. Here are some of the staggering statistics for families in Tennessees First District. According to the Heritage Institute. because of the Democrat budget. the average taxpayer in my district will be forced to pay an increase of $1.596. and it will result in almost 2.000 jobs being lost. and a loss of $188 million in the First Districts economy. Thats not what I hear when I go home every weekend to east Tennessee: If you could just raise my taxes. increase regulations. then its going to be good for my family. Thats not what I hear. I hear. Keep taxes low. keep regulations low. lower gas prices and get government out of my way and we will be able to do better. And by reimposing the marriage tax. you know. I hear comments here in Washington that. well. if we could only tax the wealthy. Well. when I go home to east Tennessee every weekend. theres a lot of married folk that are not wealthy. Thats just common sense. And by bringing back the marriage tax. roughly 23 million taxpayers will see their taxes increase by $466 by the year 2011 simply because theyre married. I dont know if thats the policy that we need to be bringing forth in this Congress. Thats not what I hear when I go home to east Tennessee every weekend. We have a choice between bigger economy Or bigger government. Taxing and spending is not a road we need to head down. Ronald Reagan once said. "We dont have a trilliondollar debt because we havent taxed enough. we have a trilliondollar debt because we spend too much." I think we. as Members of Congress. need to be more concerned about the budgets of mothers and fathers who have to put a budget together around their kitchen tables back in East Tennessee and across America rather than growing a Federal budget that supports outofcontrol spending that relies on taking money from the very mothers and fathers who are struggling to make ends meet back in northeast Tennessee and across America. I would like to thank my colleague. Congresswoman BLACKBURN. for her leadership in putting on this budget school. and if we could just get back to using some common sense. we will go forward in America. Its worked well for over 200 years. we just need to get back to that common sense. Thank you for your leadership.