WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) released the following statement about the Republican’s continued infatuation with failed tax cut plans:

    “On days like today, I have to wonder what economic numbers Republicans in Congress are looking at. We face the worst record of job creation by a President since Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression, a precipitous decline in the stock market and slumping consumer confidence.

    These are the same problems we faced in 2001 when President Bush and the Republican majorities in Congress passed a $1.3 trillion tax cut. Since that tax cut, 1.7 million jobs have vaporized and more than 8 million Americans are now unemployed. So, even under the Republicans’ wildly over-optimistic projections, their current tax plan would create only 1.2 million jobs. This would not even restore the jobs they lost two years ago.

    For Coloradoans, the news is even worse. We face growing unemployment – in April unemployment jumped to 5.7 percent in our state – and the worst budget crisis since the Great Depression.

    But instead of helping states like Colorado, the Bush-Republican tax cut will make our state’s economic crisis even worse – slashing up to $150 million in revenue from the budget. And, if past record is any indication, this tax cut will not create any new jobs and could lead to even more job loss.

    The people of Colorado and the nation cannot afford another reckless plan that will starve state budgets and destroy jobs. Instead, the Republicans who control the White House and both houses of Congress need to take responsibility for the economic mess they created and develop a real plan for recovery.”

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