FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                             CONTACT: Joshua Gillespie
December 2, 2010                                                                                      (317) 848-0201

Burton Blasts Use of “Political Games” with Phony Tax Cut Vote

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement after the passage of the House Democrats tax increase on families and small businesses: 

“Economists on the left and right of the political spectrum have repeatedly said that now is not the time for Washington to be raising taxes on ANYBODY.  Unfortunately, the House Democrat leadership has once again chosen to ignore common sense in pursuit of a hyper partisan agenda.  Today’s vote is not only a disservice to American families and small businesses, who will be crushed by the $3.9 trillion tax increase set to take effect in just 29 days, but an insult to President Obama, who only 48 hours ago offered to sit down with Republicans and Democrats to negotiate a bipartisan tax deal.  Indeed, this purely political vote took place at the exact same time a bipartisan group of Members were meeting to work out a deal.

“With the unemployment rate flirting with double digits, the last thing Congress should be doing is implementing a job killing tax increase on families and small businesses.  What Congress should be doing is stopping the political games and working in a bipartisan way to extend tax cuts for everyone.  This would promote real job growth, empower small business owners and allow more Americans to invest in and grow our economy.”  

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Last Tuesday night a GOP tsunami washed over America sweeping away an historic number of Democrat lawmakers on the federal, state and local level. The American people, frustrated by government run amok sent a very powerful reminder to every elected official of Abraham Lincoln’s immortal words at Gettysburg; that our government is a government of the people, by the people, and most importantly, FOR the people. We must not forget that or we will overstep our mandate and find our tenure in the majority to be very short.

First and foremost, the People want us to cut government spending. We have done it before and we can do it again. In March of 1995, the first Republican majority in the House of Representatives in 40 years, brought forward a rescission bill cutting $17 billion in spending across twelve different cabinet agencies, the Congress, White House and a variety of independent agencies. This new Republican majority must move as quickly to bring a rescission package to the floor. President Obama said that “he would be happy” to sit down with Congressional Republicans and go line by line through the budget to address our country’s enormous fiscal challenges. It’s up to the president to make good on his offer. Going forward, we have to impose hard, binding limits on the government’s ability to spend taxpayer money; things like automatic sunsets on all federal programs, and requiring a two-thirds recorded vote in the House of Representatives and in the Senate to increase the statutory limit on the public debt to force us to stop borrowing money.

Next the People want us to cut their taxes. It is not enough to simply stop the tax hike from taking effect on January 1, 2011; we must go further and cut taxes to get our economy moving again. Ronald Reagan understood this simple concept and cut personal and business taxes in order to jumpstart economic growth – and it worked. It can work again. For example, reducing the lowest individual income tax rates from 15 percent to 10 percent and from 10 percent to 5 percent will result in every taxpaying-family in America getting an immediate increase in their take home pay – an average benefit of $500 in tax relief from the drop in the 10 percent bracket and $1,200 from the drop in the 15 percent bracket. Similarly, the United States currently has the second highest corporate tax rate of any industrialized nation, putting American workers and businesses at a huge competitive disadvantage. Economists estimate that simply lowering the top business tax rate from 35 percent to 22 percent could create 350,000 manufacturing jobs and 2.13 million jobs overall.

Last, but by no means least; the People want us to fundamentally reshape how Congress conducts its business so our time and energy is focused on their priorities. During the 111th Congress the House of Representatives spent hundreds of hours “debating” resolutions on things like the 2,560th anniversary of Confucius, but we only took two hours to consider the government takeover of the health care industry known as Obamacare; that’s simply ridiculous.  We must bring real reforms forward that make the People’s house run smarter, cheaper and more transparently.

If we do all of these things and remember to keep listening to the needs of the American people first and foremost, we can avoid the mistakes and ethical problems of the soon to be departed Democrat majority. If not, election night in 2012 could very well end up being a reverse of this year and end up being a long night for Republicans.

   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                             CONTACT: John Donnelly

     September 28, 2010                                                                   (317) 848-0201

Burton:  Democrat Leaders Are Threatening The Unthinkable

“In just 95 days, $3.9 trillion in tax increases will drain every income bracket in America.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement about the looming $3.9 trillion tax increase that Democrat leaders have vowed not to address before adjourning Congress this week:

“The Democrat leaders in Congress are threatening the unthinkable, as they plan to adjourn this week while leaving our businesses and families to ponder what could be the largest tax hike in American history.  In just 95 days, $3.9 trillion in tax increases will drain every income bracket in America.  The unemployment rate is flirting with double digits again, the national debt is heading towards $14 trillion, and now our economy is embroiled in uncertainty about taxes.

“To leave our fragile economy in this state of uncertainty is an abject failure to govern.  Even worse, the Democrat leaders have abandoned the American people based on a cold, political calculation ahead of the November elections.

“As it stands today, over 30 Democrats have joined a united Republican party on this critical issue, and if given the opportunity to vote on the House floor this week, our bipartisan coalition could stop the uncertainty and stop the tax hikes on every income bracket.”

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FOR IMMEIDATE RELEASE                                                                                  CONTACT: John Donnelly
September 23, 2010                                                                                                     (317) 848-0201

Burton Statement On The GOP Pledge To America

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement after House Republicans released a new governing agenda entitled “A Pledge to America”:

“We have listened to the people, and our Pledge is a united response.  The major policies in this new governing agenda—job creation and tax cuts, spending cuts and caps, strong national defense and border security, ensuring new laws have Constitutional authority, and the repeal and replacement of Obamacare—give voice to the American people, whose demands have largely been ignored by the current Majority.

“Our Pledge to America is an easy one for me to take, as its philosophies and policies are all things I have championed throughout my public life, if not already supported specifically through legislation.  Above all, our Pledge is something I am proud to take back to my constituents in Indiana.  Hoosiers who read our Pledge will find a genuine commitment to governing through our founding principles and for the priorities of our people. ”

NOTE:  “A Pledge to America” can be found in full here: http://pledge.gop.gov/

The preamble to “A Pledge to America” reaffirms Republicans’ commitment to principles of smaller, more accountable government; economic freedom; lower taxes; fiscal responsibility; protecting life, American values, and the Constitution; and providing for a strong national defense.  This new governing agenda is comprised of five specific policy plans that could be implemented right now if President Obama and Democratic Leaders would allow it:

•    Creating Jobs.  “A Pledge to America” reflects Americans’ demand for immediate action on policies that will end uncertainty for small businesses and help our economy get back to creating jobs.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America competitive – including stopping all tax hikes, reining in red tape, and repealing ObamaCare’s ‘1099 mandate.’

•    Cutting Spending.  “A Pledge to America” embodies Americans’ rejection of the now-thoroughly discredited notion that we can simply tax, spend, and borrow our way to prosperity.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to cut spending and reduce the size of government – including cutting government spending to pre-‘stimulus’, pre-bailout levels, imposing a hard cap on future discretionary spending, and ending TARP once and for all.

•    Reforming Congress.  “A Pledge to America” acknowledges that we cannot get our arms around the issues of the day when we have a government that refuses to listen to the people and ignores their priorities.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to reform Congress and restore trust – including implementing ‘read the bill’ reform, allowing for more open and fair debate, and requiring that every bill contain a citation of Constitutional authority.

•    Repealing and Replacing The Job-Killing Health Care Law.  “A Pledge to America” recognizes that the American people continue to squarely oppose the government takeover of health care, with its higher costs, higher taxes, job-killing mandates, and Medicare cuts to pay for a massive new entitlement.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to repeal and replace the job-killing health care law with common-sense reforms focused on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.

•    A Strong National Defense.  “A Pledge to America” reinforces Congress’s responsibility to help provide for a strong national defense and fashion a coherent strategy to confront and defeat the terrorist threat.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to keep our nation secure at home and abroad – including passing clean troop funding bills, keeping terrorists off American soil, and fully funding missile defense.

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In Case You Missed it                                                                        CONTACT: John Donnelly
July 7, 2010                                                                                                  (317) 848-0201

(AFP News Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 7, 2010
AFP Contact: James Valvo (703) 224-3200

Americans for Prosperity Applauds Indiana U.S. Representative Dan Burton

-Signs No Climate Tax Pledge-

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The free market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) today applauded Indiana U.S. Representative Dan Burton (5th District) for signing the group’s “No Climate Tax Pledge.”  Burton joins more than 625 bipartisan lawmakers and candidates on the federal, state and local levels pledging to “oppose legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.”

“The one thing elected officials should be able to agree on is that global warming shouldn’t be used as an excuse to hike taxes on citizens and businesses,” said AFP Vice President for Policy Phil Kerpen.  “We encourage all of Indiana’s elected officials and candidates for elected office to sign the pledge.”

Cap-and-trade took its first step toward enactment last year when the U.S. House narrowly passed the Waxman-Markey energy tax bill, which escaped the lower chamber by a scant seven votes despite significant bipartisan opposition.  The Senate has struggled to pass companion legislation, with several key Democratic senators expressing opposition to passing the energy tax bill. 

President Obama has made no secret of his support for the bill, which would be the largest tax increase in American history.  The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has scored the House plan as an $846 billion increase in federal revenue, a burden that will be borne by taxpayers and consumers for decades to come.  Recent analysis by the Institute for Energy Research found the Kerry-Lieberman Senate bill would cost the nation more than 500,000 jobs by 2015 and decrease household income by over $1,000 by 2020. 

“Using the guise of climate change to transfer dollars from hard-working citizens to bureaucratic big government is unacceptable,” said Kerpen. “Regardless of their stance on global warming, this should be common ground for all of our elected officials at all levels of government.”

The pledge is available online at www.NoClimateTax.com.  AFP does not endorse candidates.  All elected officials and candidates are encouraged to sign the pledge and go on the record in opposition to using the climate change issue to increase taxes and grow the size of government.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best way to safeguard individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFP has more than one million  members, including members in all 50 states, and 30 state chapters and affiliates. More than 60,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial investment in AFP or AFP Foundation. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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