Home Topics The Hill The Congress Blog The Pundit's Blog GOP Convention Democratic Convention

KEY BLOGS
What they are saying today

Daily Kos
While Barack Obama seems presidential during his trip abroad, John McCain looks petulant for knocking Obama's visits to Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries after the Republican had done the same and had initially complained that Obama hadn't, writes DemFromCT. Evangelical ... READ MORE

MyDD
Democrat Ronnie Musgrove is running neck and neck with Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) in recent polls and Democrats could win the race on the way to 60 Senate seats, writes Jonathan Singer. What Rush Limbaugh, who attacked Barack Obama's speech ... READ MORE

TalkingPointsMemo
When pundits talk about the need for Barack Obama to prove he can become commander-in-chief, they forget that the Constitution's framers sought to give the position to a president who was a civilian elected by the people and not a ... READ MORE

The Next Right
Liberals took the lead online when Democrats were out of power and they needed to try something new, according Jon Henke in a response to a question about why conservatives are behind when it comes to using the Internet. The ... READ MORE

Townhall.com
Many Americans, especially those in swing states in the industrial Midwest, could find Barack Obama's speech lacking in American pride and bordering on arrogance, writes Hugh Hewitt. John McCain will benefit from the view of Americans who see Obama as ... READ MORE

The Corner
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) deserves credit for getting an amendment adopted to a House intelligence bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security to continue using terms like jihadism, Islamofascism and mujahideen and therefore ending the departments campaign to ... READ MORE

Drudge Report
Barack Obama is now leaving for Paris, the next leg of his trip abroad, notes the front page of the Drudge Report. But Drudge highlights some of the negative reaction to Obama's speech in Berlin, linking to a story in ... READ MORE

The Huffington Post
Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-Neb.) call on both presidential candidates to quit talking about the surge and focus instead on the future leads the Post. Now that the corporate press has lauded Barack Obama's address in Berlin, it's poised to lash ... READ MORE

The Plank
The decision by Barack Obama's campaign to start a transition team to ready the Democrat to take office can hurt and help Obama, writes Nicole Allen. Republicans see it as another example of Obama's presumptuousness, but it will also prepares ... READ MORE

Hot Air
Ahead of Barack Obama's trip to Paris, France the Republican National Committee is running ads in the cities of Paris in Michigan, Maine and Missouri that slam the Democrat for opposing war funding bills because they didn't include withdrawal timetables, ... READ MORE

CLICK FOR MORE
SUMMARIES



MORNING READ
MIDDAY BLOG ROUNDUP
DAY'S END ROUND-UP



You need Flash Player 8 (or higher) and JavaScript enabled to view this content

 

CLICK FOR MORE HILLTUBE

Morning Read | Midday Blog Roundup | Day's End Roundup

April 4, 2008

Blue Dogs Press Forward on AMT Patch Tax Increase

@ 3:29 pm by Walter Alarkon

It seems the fiscally conservative House Blue Dog coalition is putting some pressure on the House and Senate Budget committees to resist patching the alternative minimum tax unless it is paid for with tax increases or spending cuts.

The Hill’s Mike Soraghan has the scoop on TheHill.com.

He shares with us this letter from Blue Dogs to the budget committees' chairmen and ranking members:

As you examine the policy options contained in both the House and Senate budget resolutions for the fiscal year 2009, we would like to reinforce our commitment to ensuring a conference report is truly fiscally responsible. We believe achieving that goal requires a conference report to include deficit-neutral AMT relief through reconciliation language and any stimulus package to be fully offset.

Once again we find ourselves staring down a non-inflation-adjusted AMT for the 2008 tax year. A proactive solution that adheres to the pay-as-you-go principle is the best way to provide AMT relief without adversely impacting our nation's already-dismal fiscal standing. The ten-year cost of patching the AMT for the 2008 tax year could top $100 billion, if deficit-financed. With this year's and next year's budget deficits slated to approach $400 billion, we simply cannot afford to continue digging ourselves into a deeper and deeper fiscal hole. The reconciliation process is the surest way to get fiscally responsible AMT relief to the President's desk.

The Senate budget resolution calls for a second stimulus package, without offsets. While we agree that certain actions taken by the federal government can positively impact an ailing economy, most economists believe a significant contributor to today's economic insecurity is excessive debt. Whether it's the banker on Wall Street, the federal government, or many homeowners across the nation, we're witnessing the risks of over-leveraging, and the threat of recession looming ever larger. The last thing we should do is fuel the fire by further reducing the already negative national savings rate, a large component of which is the federal government's fiscal position.

We are all sent to Washington to put aside political expediency and make tough decisions on the issues facing our country. This is one of those times our leadership is needed. An FY09 Budget Conference Report that does not include deficit-neutral AMT relief through reconciliation, and that does not require any second stimulus package to be fully offset, will meet our firm opposition on the House Floor.

Archived under: Economy & Budget, Legislation, News
Tags: ,




No Comments »

The Hill welcomes comment from anyone and will almost always post it whether it is favorable or critical, as long as it is substantive and advances debate.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment




Privacy Policy
| Terms and Conditions
rss

The contents of this site are © 2008 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications Inc.