Roy Blunt Delivers Weekly Republican (GOP) 12/29/12 Address Avoiding The Fiscal Cliff FULL TEXT PODCAST VIDEO

Roy Blunt Delivers Weekly Republican (GOP) 12/29/12 Address Avoiding The Fiscal Cliff FULL TEXT PODCAST VIDEO

On Friday the White House and Congressional leaders agreed that the Senate must now act to avoid going over the fiscal cliff and that this will require a bipartisan approach. In the Weekly Republican Address, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), Vice Chairman of the Republican Conference, highlights that effort and notes that lawmakers have an opportunity to kick off the New Year by working together to solve some of the big challenges facing our country today.

Published on Dec 29, 2012. Category: News & Politics. License: Standard YouTube License

The Weekly Republican Address is available in both audio and video format and is embargoed until 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, December 29, 2012. The audio of the address is available here for PODCAST DOWNLOAD src.senate.gov/files/gopaddressaudio122912.MP3, the video will be available here and you may download VIDEO FILES of the Weekly Republican (GOP) address here, mpeg 4 Video || WMV Video. A full transcript of the address follows:


FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT:

“Hi, I’m Senator Roy Blunt from Missouri. As we bring 2012 to a close, leaders in Washington have an opportunity to kick off the New Year by working together to solve some of the big challenges facing our country today.

“At a time when our federal debt’s topped a record $16 trillion, it’s been more than three years since the Democrat leaders in the Senate have passed a federal budget, and the Senate Majority Leader has refused to bring any appropriations bills to the floor this entire year. There’s an old saying that when you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and that’s exactly what they’ve been doing.

“Meanwhile, small businesses and farm families don’t know how to deal with the unfair death tax—a tax that the President and congressional leaders have threatened to expand to include even more family farms and even more small businesses.

“More American energy means more American jobs. But unfortunately, energy projects in the United States are being held back by federal obstacles of all kinds, and the Keystone XL Pipeline been hanging in the balance because President Obama has refused to move forward on what should have been an easy decision for more energy and more jobs.

“Republicans hope to work across the aisle to solve these and other critical challenges facing America in the New Year. Divided government is a good time to solve hard problems—and in the next few days, leaders in Washington have an important responsibility to work together and do just that.

“Unless Congress and the President act immediately, every American will be forced to pay for the largest tax hike in our nation's history on January 1st. At the same time, the federal government—including our Armed Forces and defense workers—will undergo deep, across-the-board budgetary cuts. Remember, these are cuts that President Obama promised during the campaign would never take effect. And while we need to reduce spending, we can do it in a much smarter, more targeted way.

“Economists not representing either political party have continually warned that going over the so-called fiscal cliff will lead to devastating job losses at a time when American families and small business owners are still struggling to get back on their feet. In contrast, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending tax rates for all Americans would create nearly 1.8 million jobs and increase the nation’s Gross Domestic Product by almost 1.5 percent next year.

“Every American taxpayer got a tax cut in 2001, and those tax cuts were good for the economy and good for families. Congress’ action to make the first tax bracket 10 percent instead of 15 percent, double the child tax credit, and deal with the marriage penalty in the tax code made a real difference to a whole lot of American families.

“Fortunately, going over the fiscal cliff is avoidable. There’s not much time, but there’s still time to act. Both President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have claimed that an achievable plan is one that can pass both houses of Congress and Republicans agree.

“The Republican-controlled House has taken a step in the right direction. The House has already passed bills to protect all Americans from burdensome tax increases. In addition, they’ve passed legislation to replace damaging across-the-board spending cuts with responsible targeted ones, and to bring our nation’s record debt under control. But instead of working across the aisle and considering the House-passed plan to protect taxpayers, Senate Democrats have spent months drawing partisan lines in the sand.

“The President's proposal to raise taxes on the top 2 percent of Americans won’t even pay one-third of the annual interest that’s now owed on this massive $16 trillion debt. In fact, the President’s tax hike would only fund the government for eight days. Americans deserve to know: What does the President propose we do for the other 357 days of the year?

“Inaction shouldn’t be an option. The problems facing our country are big, but they’re not necessarily all that complicated. The President will never have more political capital than he does right now, and the next few days will begin to define his second term. He was elected to lead.

“We still can avoid going over the fiscal cliff if the President and the Democrat-controlled Senate step forward this week and work with Republicans to solve this problem and solve it now.”

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