 | Ken Buck calls on appointed Senator Michael Bennet to Pledge No New Taxes in Lame Duck session of Congress. Harry Reid's late-night announcement opens door to Thanksgiving tax hikes |
“Appointed Senator Bennet must come clean about whether he will support tax hikes in a lame-duck session of Congress,” said Buck. “I call on Bennet to pledge he will not follow any plans by Senate Democrats to raise taxes after the election on Nov. 2.”
Late last night—conveniently after many newspaper editors had gone home for the day—Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that Congress would punt until after the election votes on the extension of the Bush tax cuts. If Congress does not act, on January 1 tax rates will increase dramatically across the board: every single personal income tax rate will go up, the child tax credit will be cut in half, the marriage penalty will come back, and the capital gains rate and the estate tax will skyrocket. Letting all of the Bush tax cuts expire would be disastrous to the economy and job-creators, and so observers agree that the Senate will have to take up the issue before Jan. 1.
But kicking the decision to a lame-duck session of Congress signals clearly that Harry Reid's proposed action—letting some of the tax cuts expire—is too politically-risky for endangered Democrats like Bennet. The thinking goes that after the election, Democrats will feel less pressure from voters to extend all of the tax cuts.
"Appointed Senator Bennet first was in favor of broad-based tax increases, but now as he takes heat from over-taxed Coloradans, he has waffled on which taxes he wants to hike and which ones he will let stay at current levels. Senator, why don't you just shoot straight with Coloradans and tell them where you stand?" said Buck Campaign Manager John Swartout. "Americans are on the cusp of rejecting the Democrats' over-taxing, over-regulating, over-spending agenda. The Appointed Senator needs to look Colorado voters in the eye and promise that he won't follow his Democrat leaders and rubberstamp Thanksgiving tax increases."
Both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post have reported on preliminary Democratic plans to move major and unpopular legislation during a lame-duck session. The Journal reported that Democratic leaders in Congress have talked about tax increases during the lame duck to coincide with the lame duck release of the Congressional deficit commission's report right after Thanksgiving. The Journal also quoted one senior Democrat as saying the "lame duck would be the last chance, quite honestly, for the foreseeable future" to pass Card Check—a bill Senator Bennet hasn't been willing to take a position on for his entire 20 months in office. The Journal article is available online here: online.wsj.com/article
Although Appointed Senator Bennet has refused to take a position on Card Check, he has been candid about raising the estate tax (the "death tax"), which is currently phased out. He has also voted for every Obama budget that has come before him, and he has taken separate, up-or-down votes specifically in favor of other senators' pork projects. One Senate aide told the Journal that a post-election lame duck could be the "biggest porkers' . . . last hurrah."
Buck continued: "I call on Appointed Senator Bennet to pledge not to support cap-and-trade, spending bills that increase discretionary spending, or Card Check in the lame-duck session. Elections have consequences. Bennet needs to honor the will of the American people if they rebuke the spend-and-regulate Democratic agenda. He can tax, spend, and regulate to his heart's desire if he and his Democratic friends come back to Congress in January. But Americans have had enough of being ignored. It's the Appointed Senator's responsibility to tell Coloradans whether he will move this big government agenda in a lame duck."
TEXT CREDIT: Buck for Colorado P.O. Box 101465, Denver, CO 80250 Ken@BuckForColorado.com
IMAGE CREDIT: BuckForColorado
