Budget and Taxes
Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger ran his own business, so he knows what it’s like to make a payroll and meet a budget. As Baltimore County Executive, he was required to submit a balanced budget for eight years and was repeatedly honored for his responsible financial management. Now in Congress, he believes the same common sense principles should be applied to the federal budget. Dutch believes:
The government shouldn’t spend more than it can afford.
Dutch has voted for, and even cosponsored, balanced budget amendments. Now, as our country continues to rebuild, he joined a bipartisan coalition encouraging a minimum $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade.
As Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Dutch worked with the Republican Chairman to cut $1 billion from the budgets of 16 intelligence agencies without affecting their missions by conducting program review and eliminating all unnecessary, wasteful and duplicative spending. Now as an Appropriator, he thinks the same should be done across the federal budget. Priority must be given to job-creating investments, such as infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Sequestration must be replaced with a balanced budget solution.
While Congress recently passed legislation that lifts the across-the-board budget caps known as sequestration for two years, this is only a Band-aid fix. Unless completely repealed, sequestration will continue to have a disproportionate impact here in Maryland, which is home to many federal agencies and contractors that employee thousands of residents.
Bipartisan groups that have looked at our deficit challenge such as Bowles-Simpson have all concluded that we cannot achieve financial stability without a balanced package that includes both tax cuts and new revenues where appropriate. Dutch agrees.
Tax reform should be addressed comprehensively.
Dutch supported extending the Bush tax cuts for the vast majority of American households and, more recently, joined 77 other Democrats in voting for a tax extenders bill that includes $650 billion in tax relief for businesses and individuals, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Tax Credit. He has sponsored legislation to increase the $1,000 child care tax credit and make it permanent since 2007.
That said, Dutch believes our entire tax code should be updated and simplified comprehensively. We should have lower individual and corporate tax rates and fewer brackets and we should get rid of unfair loopholes and tax breaks for certain industries such as oil and gas companies.
Related Cosponsorships
Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2015
Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2015
Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2015
American Opportunity Tax Credit Act of 2015
Child Tax Credit Permanency Act of 2015
Earned Income Tax Credit Improvement and Simplification Act of 2015
Small Business Tax Credit Accessibility Act
Shortline Railroad Rehabilitation and Investment Act of 2015
Wounded Warrior Tax Equity Act of 2015
More on Budget and Taxes
(Washington, DC) – Members of Maryland’s House Delegation met today with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Edward P. Chamberlayne, Commander and District Engineer of the Baltimore District office, for an update on the Corps’ current activities and projects in Maryland. Colonel Chamberlayne also discussed the Corps’ budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2017 which includes the Baltimore Harbor and channel dredging, Poplar Island, and Chesapeake Bay comprehensive plan.
(Washington, DC) – Congressmen C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) and Randy Hultgren (IL-14) today announced the creation of the bipartisan House Municipal Finance Caucus to fight for state and local governments’ ability to independently finance projects that keep their communities strong.
(Washington, D.C.) – Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger today voted in favor of the bipartisan $1 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2016, which included a cybersecurity information-sharing provision that he has championed for more than a decade. As an author of information-sharing legislation since 2011, Congressman Ruppersberger said the vote moves us one step closer to stopping increasingly-aggressive cyber attacks before they happen.
(Washington, D.C.) – Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger today voted in favor of a tax extenders bill that includes $650 billion in tax relief for businesses and individuals, including $560 billion in permanent tax relief. The bill passed in a 318-109 vote, with 77 Democrats supporting the measure.
(Washington, D.C.) – Congressmen C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) and Randy Hultgren (IL-14), have again sent a bipartisan letter to House leadership in support of a critical tool that helps local and state governments finance new roads, schools, hospitals, fire stations and more. Joined by 122 of their colleagues (63 Democrats, 61 Republicans total), the letter asks leadership to reject any proposal to cap or eliminate the deduction on tax-exempt municipal bonds used to finance the vast majority of infrastructure projects in America’s communities.
(Washington, DC) – Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger issued the following statement on the 2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, known as the “cromnibus,” which passed last night in a vote of 219 to 206.
“Last night, the House of Representatives finally came together and passed bipartisan legislation that will keep most of the federal government funded until September 2015 and prevent another government shutdown. As with previous omnibus bills, I would describe this legislation as an imperfect but fair and necessary compromise.
“Thank you, Mr./Madam Chair. I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
Chairman Rogers, this is my last opportunity on the Floor to thank you again for your leadership. It has, once again, produced a strong, bipartisan and bicameral Intelligence Authorization Act.
Our Committee believes that our nation’s security is too important to be a political football. We have different views, we argue, but we work it out for the good of the American people.
Today, I will be voting in support of legislation that provides badly-needed funding to rebuild our nation’s aging infrastructure and create new jobs for Americans.
The vote will keep the Highway and Transit Trust Fund from going bankrupt in August, which would delay more than 100,000 transportation projects and jeopardize as many as 700,000 construction jobs across the country. It also reauthorizes Surface Transportation programs, which are set to expire on September 30.
(Washington, DC) – Congress has passed bipartisan legislation authorizing funding for improvements to America’s ports and waterways that will help protect jobs in Baltimore, Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger said today. The conference report on H.R. 3080, the “Water Resources and Development Act,” which also authorizes funding for projects tied to drinking water, dams, levees and environmental restoration, just passed the House of Representatives in a 412-4 vote.
Congressman Ruppersberger released the following statement:
Ruppersberger Launches “Faces of the Unemployed” Project, Urges Vote to Extend Unemployment Benefits
(Hanover, MD) – Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) on Monday was joined by jobless Marylanders in urging House leaders to allow a vote to restore unemployment insurance to nearly 33,900 Marylanders who have lost their benefits since the program’s expiration on December 28. A 5-month extension passed the U.S. Senate in April but, to date, House Republicans have blocked consideration of 11 bills to restore this vital safety net.