TAX DAY - Americans Meet Their Deadlines, But Congress Doesn’t

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, millions of Americans will file their income-tax returns, and many will have to pay more to the federal government than ever before. There is little relief in sight, said House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis, as the Democrat Congress continues to spend tax dollars faster than they come in, with little regard for the strain on the nation’s fiscal health or the huge dent it is putting in family finances.

 

Lewis said that even though millions of Americans will meet the deadline for filing their tax returns, the Democrat-led Congress will be ignoring the deadline to enact the annual budget resolution. He noted that April 15 is not only the tax deadline, it is the date by which Congress must pass a broad outline detailing how much taxpayer money it intends to spend in the coming year. Democrat leaders just this week stated publicly that they do not know when, if ever, they will pass a budget resolution this year.

 

“Americans are being compelled to give up more and more of their hard-earned money to the federal government, but it appears that it is never enough for the Democrats in Congress. They are continuing to spend with abandon, paying the bill with even higher taxes and debilitating debt. This recession is forcing families to make tough choices to live within their means, shouldn’t Congress do the same?” Lewis said.

 

“Yet Democrats cannot even agree amongst themselves on whether to pass a basic budget blueprint to outline their spending and tax limits for the year. How can they expect to begin lowering our massive debt – currently at $12 trillion – recoup unnecessary spending from their failed “stimulus” experiment, or invest in ways to put the 11 million unemployed Americans back to work, without even the barest outline of a budget? Lewis continued.

 

While missing budget deadlines is not a new development, it appears that this year Democrat leaders are shelving a budget resolution entirely to allow their members to avoid taking tough or controversial budget positions in an election year. Instead, they may abandon the regular federal budget process and simply "deem" a figure for the Appropriations Committees to use to allocate the discretionary pot of money.
 
“Once again, Democrat leaders in Congress will have ducked an opportunity to address the long-term fiscal issues threatening our future. The federal debt continues to grow, jobless claims jumped 24,000 just this week, and Democrats are poised for yet another year of unrestrained spending. Avoiding difficult decisions is clearly not working. We need to fix the broken process so we can confront the nation's fiscal problems, not contribute to them,” Lewis said.