By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
All six Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted against the Biden/McConnell fiscal cliff deal on Tuesday which raised taxes on 77% of American households, while avoiding making significant cuts to federal spending and postponing sequestration for 60 days and dealing with the farm bill for 9 months.
U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus (R) from Vestavia said in a written statement, “It is understandable why many people have been frustrated with this process. The ‘fiscal cliff’ did need to be addressed to avoid a massive tax increase on low and middle income Americans. But my personal view is that the legislation could have been much improved with the addition of spending cuts. The House, in fact, had already identified more than $200 billion in immediate potential savings.”
U.S. Representative Jo Bonner (R) from Mobile said, “At the end of the day I just couldn’t support – with my one vote – such a flawed process. There is simply no way Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison or our other founding fathers could have ever envisioned having the Senate pass a $4 trillion addition to the debt of our nation at 2:00 a.m., only to have the House take it up less than 20 hours later and there be no regard for the long-term damage we are doing to America’s future.”
U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R) from Haleyville said in his statement, “I am disappointed this agreement does not significantly help reduce Federal spending and therefore I could not support it. I firmly believe our growing fiscal crisis is rooted in Washington’s spending problem, and I hope that will be the focus of debate in the coming weeks.”
U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R) from Huntsville said, “This extraordinarily complex legislation dramatically impacts taxes, revenue, the economy, our debt, health care, and a myriad of other issues. It is wrong to rush monumental legislation through Congress in a way that denies the American people an opportunity to review, understand, and share their insight with Congress. I could not, in good conscience, condone with my vote a flawed process that denies the American people an opportunity to participate in their Republic on issues of this magnitude.”
U.S. Representative Martha Roby (R) from Montgomery said, ““I ran for Congress campaigning on the need to get government spending under control. A last-minute deal that raises taxes without cutting spending goes against my core beliefs and against the conservative values of Alabama’s Second Congressional District. Alabamians didn’t send me to Washington to raise their taxes so the President can spend more of their hard-earned dollars”.
Rep. Bachus said, “Unfortunately, the legislation sent to the House by the Senate actually increased the debt by $4 trillion. We cannot afford to keep adding to a huge debt that is already a threat to both our economic prosperity and national security, and without greater balance I could not vote for the legislation.”
Rep. Bonner said, “Over the past several months, President Obama didn’t hide the fact that he loathes the success some Americans have worked so hard to enjoy and he will get the tax increases he has so openly sought. But to think he and the Democrats in Congress couldn’t have come up with a penny – not a single penny – of cuts to offset the $4 trillion in new spending is beyond the pale.
Rep. Roby said, “Rep. Roby said, “Washington doesn’t have a taxing problem; it has a spending problem. We have $16 trillion in debt. We spend more than a trillion dollars more than we take in every year. It’s past time we get serious about this country’s spending problem and restore fiscal sanity to the budget.”
Rep. Brooks said, “Had the Senate’s Fiscal Cliff Bill been limited to tax issues and properly deliberated, I would have likely voted for it because I favor protecting as many Americans as possible from income and estate tax increases Washington Democrats passed in December 2010, effective January 1, 2013. Unfortunately, this legislation was not properly deliberated and covered issues wholly unrelated to protection from tax increases.”
Rep. Bonner concluded, “This is a sad day for our country but the saddest, at least to me, was when the American people, on November 6th, expressed with their vote that they believed we could continue down the path of more spending and borrowing with no consequences.”
Alabama Congressman Robert Aderholt (R) from Haleyville also voted to oppose this package.
