Urgent: Memo to House GOPers on Fiscal Cliff
Per Pergram-Capitol Hill
Obtained by Fox.
TO: Members, House GOP Chiefs of Staff, Legislative Directors, Communicators, and District Directors
(Courtesy of the Speaker’s Office)
KEY POINTS: SPEAKER BOEHNER’S CALL FOR BIPARTISAN ACTION TO AVERT “FISCAL CLIFF,” SUPPORT ECONOMIC GROWTH & BEGIN SOLVING AMERICA’S DEBT PROBLEM
· Republicans congratulate President Obama on his re-election. But just weeks away looms the so-called “fiscal cliff,” a combination of automatic spending cuts and tax increases mandated by law. To date, the President and his Senate have offered no plan and taken no action to avoid the cliff, support economic growth, and bring jobs home.
· The re-election of a Republican majority in the House means there is not a mandate to enact the president’s plan to raise tax rates on the American people. It has already been shown that the president’s plan cannot pass the House. The president has a responsibility to engage Congress and work for a solution to the fiscal cliff that can pass both chambers, not just his Senate.
· If there is a mandate coming out of Tuesday’s election, it is a mandate for both parties to work together to avert the fiscal cliff and support economic growth instead of damaging our economy. Without growth, we cannot solve our country’s massive debt problem.
· House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today proposed an alternative to going over the fiscal cliff and hurting the economy by raising the tax rates Americans pay. The Speaker proposed that rather than allow the top two tax rates to expire – which means raising taxes on small businesses and destroying hundreds of thousands of American jobs – we forge an agreement to avoid the cliff through bipartisan action on pro-growth tax reform with LOWER tax rates and fewer loopholes, along with responsible spending cuts and entitlement reforms.
· The president’s plan to date has been that we should either send our economy off part of the fiscal cliff by raising tax rates on small businesses, or send our economy off the whole cliff entirely. Either path will cost jobs and hurt the nation’s economy, leading to even more debt on our children.
· The stakes could not be higher. The independent firm Ernst & Young has stated that going over part of the fiscal cliff — raising tax rates on small businesses by letting the top two tax rates expire, as President Obama proposes — will cost our economy 700,000 jobs. And the harmful “sequester” – conceived in the White House to ensure President Obama could avoid dealing with the debt limit again before the presidential election – will slash national defense and endanger our security instead of making the common-sense spending cuts that are needed.
Chad Pergram
FOX News
Senior Producer for Capitol Hill
