Middle class tax cuts - Dec 18, 2012

Our constituents across this great Nation are looking to Congress for leadership.

Here we are, back in Washington this week, still in negotiations to find a compromise to avert this so-called "fiscal cliff." The year end is fast approaching. Before last Friday, almost every conversation I had with my neighbors back in Oregon centered on this question: What will happen after January 1? How much will taxes increase if Congress, as is too often the case, is too paralyzed by gridlock to act?

My constituents found common ground in expressing this simple view: that the middle class families and those who are struggling have done enough to bear the brunt of the country's economic difficulties and should not be asked to pay more. To see people coming together to ask their legislators to do what is right, what is balanced, and what is responsible encouraged me that we might reach some solution.

So I'm here today, Mr. Speaker, to ask that we all join together to do what my constituents and your constituents and all of our constituents have asked us to do. We must find consensus and allow tax rates on most Americans to remain as they are so our communities and businesses can move forward with certainty and faith in their government to work together and do what's right for our constituents.