Posted on 05/11/2003 7:19:00 AM PDT by GailA
Tax-cut vote partisan for state in U.S. House By News Sentinel Washington bureau May 10, 2003
WASHINGTON - Tennessee's U.S. House members split along party lines when the House Friday narrowly approved a package revising President Bush's second package of tax cuts costing about $550 billion over 10 years.
Republicans John J. Duncan Jr., Bill Jenkins, Zach Wamp and Marsha Blackburn voted for the tax cuts, while Democrats Lincoln Davis, Jim Cooper, Bart Gordon, John Tanner and Harold Ford Jr. opposed it.
"Bold measures need to be taken," Wamp said. "By cutting taxes and creating more jobs, we can hopefully get back on track to rejuvenate our economy."
Wamp of Chattanooga referred to the conservative Heritage Foundation's projection that the second round of tax cuts could add more than 16,000 jobs in Tennessee in 2004 and an average of more than 11,000 jobs per year into 2008.
But some Democrats harshly criticized the timing when the country has to pay for an expensive war and rebuilding in Iraq and the annual budget deficit is rising above $300 billion.
Davis of Pall Mall said he generally likes tax cuts, but "I object to tax cuts that are financed with borrowed money and will increase taxes on our children and grandchildren." He said the current long-term federal debt of about $6.4 trillion is consuming about 18 percent of annual tax revenues for finance charges on federal loans.
A targeted economic stimulus plan would be more effective than the House Republicans' plan, Davis said.
Duncan of Knoxville was traveling and could not be contacted.
Tanner of Union City called the timing of more tax cuts "irresponsible and immoral." Soldiers coming home from war will see their children burdened with more federal debt expenses due to the new package, he said.
Rep. John Tanner, D-Union City, criticized Bush's economic plan, saying it lacks an immediate stimulus to help those still reeling from the recession. ''More than 123,000 Tennesseans were out of work late last year, and the economy is struggling,'' Tanner said. ''We need to address this economic slowdown sooner rather than later. To stimulate the economy, we need a plan to try to help the economy grow while restoring long-term fiscal discipline.''
We should be training TN Welfare recipents to answer these phone lines, so they can GET OFF WELFARE!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.