WASHINGTON, D.C. - Both U.S. Reps. Lou Barletta (R-11) and Tom Marino (R-10) are not pleased with the Senate's moves to avoid the fiscal cliff by the first of the year.
"If the Senate doesn't act, every single American who pays taxes will pay more starting Jan. 1," Barletta said in a prepared statement sent via e-mail from his communications director Shawn M. Kelley. "The Senate's inaction is also causing tremendous uncertainty among our employers, and that's handcuffing economic growth. The Senate needs to step up and act."
Marino, in a prepared statement sent via e-mail from his press secretary Sarah Wolf, said the House Republicans have passed legislation to avert the effects of the cliff and offered a proposal that would raise tax rates for top earners.
"Despite this major concession, Democrats continue to ask for more - more wasteful spending on programs that operate at the most inefficient and ineffective levels. House Republicans have already passed legislation that will extend tax cuts for the middle class, but it is the Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid and President Obama who are refusing to compromise," Marino said.
Barletta said the House passed a bill in August that would keep the tax rates for everyone, and they are waiting for Senate to either pass that bill or amend it and send it back.
Marino said the country has a spending problem, not a taxing problem.
"During his campaign, the president called for and promised the American people a balanced approach to averting the fiscal cliff - one that incorporated a combination of tax reforms, spending cuts, and reforms to entitlement programs," he said. "Unfortunately, President Obama has reneged on this promise and continues to demand more tax hikes on America's families and small businesses without offering a responsible and realistic plan to curb out-of-control spending."
Marino, calling the situation a "complete and utter mess," said it should remind lawmakers and elected officials that they are the ones who have the ability to change the way Washington operates.
"Whether we look to procedural changes, term limits or decreasing the concentration of power within leadership roles, we must take a serious look at the internal dysfunction that has left the American people in a state of such uncertainty, frustration and anger," he said,
While the House waits for action from Senate leadership, Marino said he will continue to work for the people of Pennsylvania's 10th District and will remain committed to seeing that Americans do not bear the brunt of a tax hike.