Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks Thursday regarding extending current tax rates:
“We’ve got a lot to do and not much time to do it before the end of the session. The American people spoke loudly and clearly on Election Day.
“They want us to put aside the liberal wish list and focus on jobs. And the most important thing we can do to create jobs between now and January 1st is to send a message to job creators that we aren’t going to raise their taxes.
“That’s why I offered a bill back in September, S. 3773, that would make current tax rates permanent.
“This is the only bill that’s yet been offered that would prevent a tax hike on anyone. In other words, nobody in America would get a tax hike at the end of the year. The White House didn’t like that idea. They said we should raise taxes on small businesses. But this should be an easy one: we should be promoting private job creation, not killing them.
“So I look forward to hearing any ideas the White House has to achieve that.
“One thing we’ll need to do before we leave this year is fund the government. Because Democrats didn’t pass a single appropriations bill this year.
“So now they’ll try to mop up in the 11th hour with an Omnibus spending bill that covers all of it. This is one more sign they aren’t learning many lessons from the election.
“If this election showed us anything, it’s that Americans don’t want Congress passing massive trillion dollars bills that have been thrown together behind closed doors.
“They want us to do business differently.
“So I won’t be supporting an Omnibus spending bill.
“We’ve seen what happens when Democrats rush legislation and try to jam it through at the last minute with no time for review or for the American people to learn what’s actually in the bill. The Cornhusker Kickback and Louisiana Purchase are fresh on their minds.
“Americans want us to take our time and get things right. And they want us to spend less.
“The voters have spoken.
“We need to show we heard them.”
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